Community Sports

Peninsula the top seed in state fastpitch tournament

The Peninsula High fastpitch team won the District 3/4 championship on Saturday, May 20, at the Regional Athletic Complex in Lacey.

The Seahawks will return to the RAC next weekend — this time as the No. 1 seed in the state fastpitch tournament.

Gig Harbor also qualified for the state tournament after earning fifth place at the district tournament. The Tides are seeded ninth in the 20-team field.

The Peninsula fastpitch team celebrates a win. Photo by Peninsula High fastpitch

Both Peninsula (against either No. 17 Yelm or No. 16 Juanita) and Gig Harbor (against No. 8 Cascade) open state tournament play at 11 a.m. Friday, May 26, at the RAC.

If both the Seahawks and Tides win, the two would play each other at 3:30 p.m. The two teams finished first and second in the South Sound Conference, with Peninsula prevailing in both head-to-head matchups by scores of 7-1 and 16-8.

The Seahawks (22-2) won the district title with a 2-0 win over Bonney Lake on May 20. Earlier in the tournament, the Seahawks beat Yelm 12-3, Evergreen 4-1 and River Ridge 13-0.

Gig Harbor (16-8) beat Thomas Jefferson 15-6 in its district opener before falling to Bonney Lake, 11-1. In consolation bracket games on Saturday, the Tides defeated Auburn Mountainview 10-1 and Timberline 6-4.

The 2023 WIAA/@GesaCU
3A Fastpitch Championship Bracket is sethttps://t.co/iCLfVt0eR1 🏆🥎 pic.twitter.com/ngjrLGmCwW

— WIAA (@wiaawa) May 21, 2023

Gig Harbor soccer ousted

A spectacular season by the Gig Harbor boys soccer team came to an abrupt and surprising end on Friday, May 19.

The Tides — seeded second into the state tournament and ranked No. 1 in the WIAA’s RPI index — lost in the first round at state to Liberty of Renton by a 3-0 score. It was a stunning result for a Gig Harbor team that entered the game 19-0 on the season, having outscored its opponents 92-14.

Look for more in the next Sports Beat column on Friday.