Community Sports
Sports Beat | Gig Harbor soccer rallies to tie Bellarmine
The Gig Harbor boys soccer team (5-2-2, 3-1-2 Puget Sound League) is back near the top of the league standings this season, but they had to dig deep to stay there on April 8 at Roy Anderson Field.
The Tides overcame a 3-1 deficit in the second half to earn a tie against Bellarmine Prep.
Tide sophomore forward Jackson Powell was the hero. He made a fantastic, bending, corner kick goal, late in the game to tie the score at 3-3.
The Tides started slow in this game. The Lions (4-1-2, 3-1-2) were the aggressors, scoring three goals in the first half. Tide junior forward Henry Blake scored his team’s lone goal to make the score 3-1 at halftime.
Braden Smee (3) and Jackson Powell (17) of Gig Harbor defend during the game against Bellarmine. Photo by Dennis Browne
That’s when Tides head coach Joe Ross went to work explaining his second-half strategy to his young team, which lost many seniors from last year’s squad. Ross is an energetic coach and his halftime speech was well-received. The Tides came out on fire and nearly scored twice within the first few minutes.
The Tides’ aggression was finally rewarded at the 20-minute mark of the second half, when senior Dawson Parks controlled a bouncing ball in a crowd of players. Parks gathered and fired a low line-drive shot that passed the Lion keeper to make the score 3-2.
Dawson Parks of Gig Harbor. Photo by Colton Bare
Bellarmine tried to go back on the offensive. But Gig Harbor’s workhorse middle defender, senior Braden Smee, snuffed out a few runs and made all the right defensive plays. Jack Learned and senior LT De La Rosa also contributed key defensive plays for Gig Harbor.
When Bellarmine did get through the defense, senior goalie Trey Crosby was ready. He and the rest of the Tide defense completely shut down the Bellarmine offense in the second half.
Gig Harbor forced a decisive corner kick with less than two minutes to go in the game. With a sporadic wind blowing up from Henderson Bay and players jockeying for position, Powell took care of it himself by blasting a spinning, arching shot that went against the wind, over all the players’ heads and smashed into the far side net, untouched, to tie the game in miraculous fashion.
Jackson Powell of Gig Harbor. Photo by Colton Bare
Powell’s left footed goal was like something you’d see on ESPN’s SportsCenter. But coach Ross said Powell made the same type of kick for three goals against Lincoln earlier in the season. The tying goal kept the Tides in the thick of the league race in the Narrows Division.
“I was very pleased with the boys. We’re a young group but we’re continuing to build. The comeback tonight was a culmination of our efforts,” Ross said. “Our players know what’s at stake, this league is very strong. It’s going to be us, Central Kitsap, Bellarmine and Silas fighting every time we play each other for the potential to be league champions.”
Peninsula soccer gets first win of the year
Peninsula boys soccer had a rough start to the season under first-year boys coach Jose Brambila, who coached the Seahawks girls to a state appearance last fall. But there is hope after his boys team (1-5-3, 1-3-3 PSL) exploded for a 7-1 Nisqually Division win over River Ridge on April 10 at Roy Anderson Field.
The Seahawks have six points in the Nisqually Division standings, only three points behind second-place Capital. (Three points are awarded for a win and one for a tie in the standings.)
“This was a very important victory for us tonight. These boys have kept every game close up to this point and winning tonight not only keeps us within a few points of third place in our league but it gives us belief and a boost, that we’ve worked very hard to get,” Brambila said.
Peninsula junior midfielder Philip Kim got a hat trick against the Hawks, adding an assist.
Other goal scorers for Peninsula included senior midfielder Logan Reum (who also had an assist); junior forward Ramse Vitale; and freshman midfielders Davi Da Cruz and Ryan Rodgers. Junior forward Jonas Koller tallied two assists.
Peninsula fastpitch eyes rematch vs. Timberline
Peninsula fastpitch (6-4, 6-2 Puget Sound League) is in second place in the Nisqually Division after beating three division foes by decisive scores this season. They took down Capital 12-2, then North Thurston 7-5, before drowning Lakes 25-0. Division-leading Timberline beat Peninsula in a heart-breaker, 10-9, on April 7 in Lacey.
The team is already eyeing a May 2 rematch against the Blazers at Peninsula High.
The Seahawks bounced back on April 9 against River Ridge, winning 5-4.
“We are a scrappy, very young core, of kids with a few great senior leaders. We have lost three one-run games against very good teams, including Olympic, Timberline, and North Kitsap,” Seahawk coach Mike Paul said. “I have 12 to 14 kids that have impact in every game. It’s been a real pleasure to coach this team, they’re a very hard-working group.”
Seahawk senior Ava Miranda has been red hot and continues to do damage all over the field for the Seahawks. She is a quality catcher who has a 1.000 fielding percentage and is batting a sweltering .568 at the plate with 17 runs and 16 RBIs. She’s almost a lock to successfully steal a base as well, with 13 stolen bases in 14 attempts.
Ava Miranda of Peninsula. Photo by Justin Duckworth
She’s also a team leader that would rather shower her teammates and coach with praise than to receive it herself.
“Overall I am really proud of my teammates this year, we have really had a lot of growth. Our freshmen this year are unstoppable (referring to Paige Jones .462 and Izzy Michaels .448) they can really hit and have been awesome additions to our team,” Miranda said.
“I also really love to play with Mira Sonnen, it’s so nice to play a team sport with her, we have been playing together since early middle school and she’s just an awesome softball player.”
Miranda also credits the closeness of the team to Paul. “He’s a really great coach and a lot of fun at practice. He loves to engage with our team and even showed up at our lip sync battle which was a fund raiser at our school. He supports us in everything not just softball.”
Miranda is one of the few Peninsula athletes with dual state championships. Her 2023 fastpitch team and her 2024 wrestling teams were crowned Class 3A state champions.
Miranda plans to wrestle at Washington State University in the fall and major in kinesiology with an eye on becoming a physical trainer in the future.
Peninsula tennis
The Gig Harbor (4-0, 3-0) girls tennis team was ready for a big matchup with the undefeated Bellarmine Lions to decide the Narrows Division lead on April 10. But the team would have had just as much luck playing tennis in the Tides swimming pool, as a near monsoon filled the courts with water and postponed the match.
But the Peninsula (1-2) girls tennis team caught a break in the rain on April 9 and came through with an intense 3-2 victory over Capital.
The Seahawks, who opened the season against undefeated league opponents Silas and Gig Harbor, could not afford to lose again and came up clutch in close matches with the Cougars.
The Seahawks’ No. 1 singles player, Terrisa Cottey, held her composure and came through with a hard fought 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 victory.
The second singles match was almost as close in the first set, as Olivia Mercado closed out her Cougar opponent 7-5 in the first set before figuring out her opponent’s weaknesses and exploiting them in a easier 6-2 second set victory.
The Seahawks closed out the match when Margaux Mayer and McKenna Baurichter teamed up to overwhelm their opponents, 6-2, 6-1. The talented Seahawk duo may be the best girls doubles team that the Seahawks have had in recent years with the consistency of Baurichter’s ground strokes and serve paired with Mayer’s ability to play the net and chase down almost every ball.
Error on the play
And finally, I made a mistake in a prior report, in trying to describe the final moments of a chaotic 2-1 ending of baseball game between Peninsula and Prairie.
I incorrectly reported that a Prairie catcher used a ball that was not the game ball to make the final out of the game, touching third base after a Peninsula runner did not tag up. It was actually the Prairie first baseman who touched third base with the correct game ball in his glove. It was my mistake and should be reported that the visiting Prairie team executed the play correctly.