Since coming to this community more than 18 months ago, I’m continually surprised by the different grassroots fundraising efforts.

The Gig Harbor Canoe and Kayak team is bound for international waters.

TACOMA — The Gig Harbor Tides baseball team picked the wrong two games to mishandle the baseball.

Three Peninsula Seahawks golfers qualified for the Class 3A state tournament on Monday during the sub-district tournament at McCormic Woods in Port Orchard.

The Peninsula Seahawks’ boys golf team, led by junior Chris Bean, has won 36 consecutive matches since 2005.

Whew. The 2008 spring regular season is nearly finished for every spring sport. Now comes district and state playoffs.

They’ve done it before, and there’s a chance it could happen again.

Tiffany Blanchard, the lone freshman for the Gig Harbor Tides fastpitch team, allowed just two hits in five shutout innings Friday to lead the Tides past the Lincoln Abes 10-0 in a Narrows League Bridge Division contest.

Gig Harbor senior Bree LeRoy broker her own school record in the 100-meter high hurdles and recorded the fastest time in the state this year on Saturday when she finished in 14.75 seconds at the Lake Washington Invitational.

The Peninsula Seahawks have used a non-league win against the crosstown rival Gig Harbor Tides earlier this month as a springboard for the second half of the season.

When local businessman Dan Kropf wants to take his family out to an inexpensive outing, Cheney Stadium is the first place that pops up in his mind.

She gives her opponents what her coach and teammates refer to as “the look.” With a stone cold stare, a gaze used in card games like poker, Gig Harbor High School sophomore tennis player Christy Sipes fixates her eyes on the state prize. It won’t be easy.

There are a number of peninsula-area teams who have rescheduled their games because of the recent inclement weather.

After losing two straight Class 4A Narrows League baseball games against Central Kitsap and South Kitsap, the Gig Harbor Tides got back on the winning side Friday by defeating the Lakes Lancers 9-1 in a non-league game.

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

The last time the Peninsula Seahawks fastpitch team played the Sequim Wolves, it wasn’t a pretty sight. They were rocked 13-2 on the road and committed seven errors.

Gig Harbor Tides soccer coach Andres Lugo said his team has felt a “false sense of security” after losing three straight toward the end of the regular season.

It was the combination of the Peninsula Seahawks’ Baebler twins that beat the Gig Harbor Tides 1-0 in a crosstown rivalry soccer game Saturday night.

I met with a group of women recently who are all from the area — or work in Gig Harbor — about how excited they are about racing in the 112th Boston Marathon.

Five women — four of whom are Gig Harbor residents — have yet to feel the true glory of running in what is considered one of the most prestigious marathons in the world.

The Peninsula Seahawks’ track and field teams hosted the Olympic Trojans and Port Townsend Redskins in a double-dual Olympic League meet last Friday in what could have been the nicest weather so far this spring.

The Gig Harbor Tides baseball team has been on the winning side of things lately as they lead the Class 4A Narrows League Bridge Division.

The Gig Harbor Tides fastpitch team continued to struggle last week, falling to the North Kitsap Vikings 12-3 in a Class 4A Narrows League Bridge Division matchup.

The Harbour Hurricanes rugby team won the Division II state championship and went on to win the Northwest Championship held in Portland last year while finishing 6-3-1.

The Peninsula Seahawks water polo team defeated the Wilson Rams 10-9 last Thursday to keep their hopes alive for the state tournament.

Wind and the biting cold weather didn’t stop the Gig Harbor Tides track and field team from taking advantage of decent weather last Wednesday in a home meet with the South Kitsap Wolves and Foss Falcons.

The Key Peninsula Little League opened its season last Saturday under sun-lit fields at Volunteer Park.

The Gig Harbor Tides track and field team gauged some of its athletes’ levels of performance last weekend at the Stanford Invitational.

Within the past two weeks, three-fifths of the Gig Harbor Tides’ girls basketball coaching staff has resigned.