Tides golf teams to face big week in Narrows play

Prep roundup: PHS girls tennis team remains unbeaten

Marques Hunter

of the Gateway

The Gig Harbor Tides golf team has been playing well in Class 4A Narrows League Bridge Division play.

Leading up to important league matches this week against Bellarmine, Olympia and Wilson, the Tides boys are 4-1 overall, 4-0 league, and the Gig Harbor girls are 5-0 overall.

The Tides coaching staff and players believe this week will be a measure of the team’s ability.

“(This week) will determine what kind of team we have,” said Tides boys golf coach David Hyde. “Hopefully, they rise to the occasion.”

Against the Foss Falcons last week, the Gig Harbor boys won 158-77 and the Tides girls won 110-49.

The Tides didn’t start their usual players because Hyde wanted to give others varsity experience.

Mike Miller led the Tides boys with 33 points. Sophomore Max Jiganti hit a couple of birdies on the back nine.

On a par 5, Jiganti hit a nice drive down the center of the fairway, used a 6 iron onto the green but missed a 5-foot eagle put.

Although Jiganti was disappointed, he said this week’s matches are much more important.

“Hopefully, we’ll take it seriously and everybody will practice their hardest so we’ll be ready,” he said.

Jiganti added that if Gifford Olson — the team’s captain ­— performs well, the rest of the team usually does the same.

“When he plays good, everybody else does, too,” Jiganti said.

Other notables in the victory against the Falcons were Evan Purdy and Zach Cox, who each scored 31 points.

For the Tides’ girls, Malia Osborne was the medalist with a 10-over-par 47.

PHS golf team continues to win

So far, the Peninsula Seahawks boys golf team has been untouchable.

The Seahawks continued their domination in the Olympic League with a victory over the Port Angeles Roughriders in a Class 3A matchup, 144-121.

Chris Bean was the medalist with a stellar even-par round of 72. Other players who contributed nicely were Chad Finlay (79), Kevin Keiter (79) and Joey McNelis (81).

The Peninsula boys (5-0 overall, 4-0 Olympic League) extended their match winning streak to 36, dating back to 2005.

The top four Peninsula boys will play at the Tim Higgens Memorial Tournament at 10 a.m. Thursday at Kitsap Country Club.

The Seahawks girls suffered their first Olympic League loss of the season — and in two years — with a 101-50 decision against Port Angeles during which coach Larry Gilhuly described as “the worst day for golf I have seen in eight years of coaching.”

With a combination of snow, hail, sleet, sun, rain and high winds, the conditions on the course were poor.

Julia Stockton shot a 56 to lead the team, followed by Anna Heacox (57).

Peninsula (5-3 overall, 4-1 Olympic League) beat Klahowya 88-21 earlier this month. Katie Stavig and Heacox led the team with 51s.

GH girls tennis team gets shutouts

With sophomore powerhouse Christy Sipes leading the team, the Tides’ tennis squad is 5-1 overall, 5-0 in the Narrows League Bridge Division after beating the Stadium Tigers last Monday.

Last week, the Tides shut out the Olympia Bears 5-0, along with the rest of their opponents.

Sipes beat Olympia’s Gip Iskandar 6-0, 6-0. Gig Harbor’s Emily Brown followed nicely with a victory in singles play against Cayla Stanley, 6-1, 6-0.

In doubles, the Tides’ Katie West and Katie Small beat Olympia’s Gretchen Helpenstel and Annie Sig, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4.

The rest of Gig Harbor’s doubles teams took care of business, too.

Later in the week against the Foss Falcons, the Tides put on another shutout, winning 5-0.

In the singles category, Sipes defeated Sara Yun, 6-0,6-0, and Brown beat Elaina Tursi, 6-0, 6-2.

In doubles, West and Small beat Ericka Maska and Krisha Dennis, 6-1, 6-1, and the Tides’ Tara Andrew and Haley Erickson beat Ticcia Melendez and Tasha Kotelvskya, 6-0, 6-4.

Gig Harbor beat the Mount Tahoma Thunderbirds 5-0 to finish the week.

Sipes defeated Alysia Sin, 6-0, 6-0, and Brown won 6-1, 6-0 against Thu-Ha Troung.

In doubles competition, not one Tides pair lost a set. Gig Harbor’s Alyssa and Alex Jones highlighted the victory by topping Anna Nguyen and Julia Lay, 6-1, 6-1.

PHS girls tennis team 8-1 in league

The Peninsula Seahawks girls tennis team ­— despite bad weather and a handful of rescheduled matches — has managed to remain undefeated until playing Port Angeles last Monday where they lost 2-5.

Before that, they beat the North Mason Bulldogs in a Class 3A/2A Olympic League match 6-1 last Thursday.

Peninsula sophomore Liza Kromholtz has continued to display her dominance as she remained undefeated in singles competition. Kromholtz beat her opponent, 6-0, 6-0.

Seahawks sophomore Lisa Fujita also won, 6-4, 6-1.

In doubles, Peninsula’s Kelsey Stonestreet and Kaitlin Pifer won 7-5, 1-6, 6-2.

Tides water polo team now 10-2

The Gig Harbor Tides erased a 4-3 second-quarter deficit to beat the Wilson Rams 17-10 in water polo last week but lost to Curtis 9-1 on Monday.

A combination of defense and fast break opportunities produced a number of goals as the Tides (10-1 overall) took an 8-5 lead going into halftime.

Gig Harbor’s defense picked up where it left off in the second half and kept the pressure on the Rams in the fourth quarter.

The win marked the first time in the history of the Gig Harbor program that the Tides swept the season series with Wilson.

Clarissa Richard, the Rams’ best player, had eight of the team’s 10 goals.

Junior Aundi Ragan scored five goals to lead Gig Harbor, and sophomore Lauren Biggs added three. Senior KC Hughes, junior Sam Pace and sophomore Daniel Ellis each added two goals.

Tides fastpitch drops a pair

The Gig Harbor High fastpitch team (3-10 overall, 2-8 Narrows League Bridge Division) lost three straight games against the Mount Tahoma Thunderbirds, Central Kitsap Cougars and Bellarmine Lions.

The Tides played the T-Birds closely at Mount Tahoma, but they were edged 8-7.

Gig Harbor had the lead going into the bottom of the seventh before Mount Tahoma scored two runs to win the game.

Mickelle Oslin led the Tides, going 4-for-4 with two triples and three RBIs. Courtney Dignam backed her up, going 2-for-4 with a couple of RBIs.

The Tides didn’t fare as well against the Cougars, falling 13-4 at home. Central Kitsap scored in all but two innings.

Again, Oslin led the Tides, going 3-for-3 with a double and a pair of singles.

Against the Lions, the Tides struggled in hitting against Bellarmine’s pitching and scored their only run in the seventh inning and managed to produce just four hits.

PHS soccer wins two, ties another

The Peninsula Seahawks soccer team is working its way up the 3A/2A Olympic League ladder.

Peninsula (6-3-2 overall, 4-3 league) beat the Sequim Wolves 2-0 on April 15 and followed it up with a 5-0 shutout against the Klahowya Eagles.

On Saturday night, Peninsula played to a 0-0 tie with the North Kitsap Vikings in a non-league contest.

Against Sequim, Peninsula’s Matt Blondin and Jesse Rowher scored goals.

PHS baseball out of district playoffs

Through a tough regular season, the Peninsula Seahawks are hoping to finish .500.

Seahawks coach Marco Malich said the team won’t make it to the West Central 3A District playoffs.

Last week, the Seahawks lost to the Olympic Trojans and the Sequim Wolves, 7-3 and 10-4, respectively.

Peninsula was scheduled to play Klahowya after press time on Tuesday. The Seahawks host Port Townsend today at 3:15 p.m.

PHS track athletes compete at invite

The Peninsula Seahawks participated in the Bellevue Invitational last weekend.

There were 14 other Class 3A schools involved.

In the javelin, Peninsula senior Justin Allard placed second with a throw of 163 feet, 11 inches.

In the triple jump, Seahawks sophomore Darrian Creamer placed second with a leap of 43 feet.

On the girls side, Peninsula junior sprinter Deven Wilson won the 100 meters in 12.57 seconds.

In the 200, Wilson took second with a time of 26.49. Senior Melissa Foss added a third-place finish in the 200 at 27.41.

In the 400 relay, Peninsula’s Foss, Kayla Erickson, Hannah Gilman and Wilson placed second in 50.23.

And sophomore Rachel Cox took third in the high jump with a leap of 5-0.

Reach Sports Editor Marques Hunter at 253-853-9243 or marques.hunter@gateline.com.