After a year off the diamond, GHHS Tides are ready to take on a new league
After waiting for a little more than a year to get back onto the diamond, the Gig Harbor High School baseball team is ready to suit up and take on the 4A South Puget Sound League.
When the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the state of Washington to shut down, the Tides were just days away from starting their 2020 season.
Obviously, that did not happen. So for the first time since claiming third place in the 2019 Class 3A Washington Interscholastic Athletics Association state tournament, coach Pete Jansen’s squad is finally ready to hit the field.
“I mentioned to a couple of our assistant coaches how great it is to be out there,” he said. “It was nice to see some guys hitting in the cages and a lot of activity on the field. The players too, you can tell they are really happy to be out there.”
With there being a large focus on keeping the coaches and players safe from the pandemic, there are a lot of safety precautions that are specific to baseball.
Some of these changes include six-feet spacing in dugouts, forcing some of the players to sit outside. Players also have to check in to check for symptoms before every practice as well.
Of course, there is the shortened season and a new league that the Tides are coping with as well. Like the WIAA’s season one before, season two sports like baseball are only going to play for six weeks. The first week is for tryouts, and the remaining five will be to play 16 games.
“We have 14 games to play, plus a doubleheader on the very last day, so basically it can be 16 games,” Jansen said. “That’s at least three games a week. We got kids that haven’t got the first two weeks to get their arms in shape, a lot of them have been working out. We’re probably going to have four or five guys throw every game one or two innings. Maybe after the third week, some guys will stretch it out a little bit.”
Although pitching is where the Tides have dominated in the past, the defense behind the pitchers is shaping up to make a splash for the team this season.
Leading the way are three seniors: shortstop Tyler Peterson, catcher Sam Hodges and Utah commit third baseman Zach Toglia.
“It feels really good, especially since my last memory of playing high school baseball was my sophomore season,” Toglia said. “We took third place in state, I was playing with my brother, I had all my best friends there, it was one of the most fun seasons I ever played and then my junior year it gets canceled. Even though it’s a shortened season, it feels really good to be back. I can’t wait to get back out there.”
In his sophomore season, Toglia hit .397 and drove in 28 runs batted in for the Tides. Those numbers earned him a first-team selection for the 3A South Sound Conference. Despite the year off, Toglia is still looking to improve on his batting by being well rounded and getting minimal strikeouts.
Jansen is also very high on Peterson, who he believes is one of the better shortstops in the area. Peterson has some playoff experience with the Tides as he was added to the playoff roster in 2019.
Meanwhile Hodges is shaping up to be an excellent switch hitting catcher this season as well.
“We got a lot of guys that are pretty good. They can hit the ball and I’m going to say that our defense is really strong,” Jansen said. “The main thing is to make routine plays consistently and then they’re going to make some web gems. Our pitchers are going to throw strikes and I think we’ll do just fine.”
Outside of the roster turnover, one of the bigger changes that the Tides will have to reckon with is playing against the 4A SPSL league.
Having dominated the 3A SSC, this is not necessarily a new challenge that is presented to Jansen and his team. Although they haven’t played some of these teams on a regular basis, there is a little familiarity for the Tides.
In years past, they have played teams like South Kitsap and Rogers in non-league games. Now they are the teams that they have to prove themselves against for the next few weeks.
“I’m really excited about it; I have a couple friends that go to South Kitsap and they’ve been telling me about the league a little bit,” Toglia said. “They’re saying it’s super competitive, especially with the Puyallup schools and Olympia. It’s 4A baseball; my brother played 4A baseball and it was really tough for them but I think it’s going to be a good challenge for us. I think we are going to be able to compete and have a good time.”
By the time of publication, the Tides will have already played against Peninsula and Curtis in their first two games of the season.
They will take the field again at noon Saturday, April 3 at South Kitsap High School to play against the Wolves.
This story was originally published March 31, 2021 at 5:30 AM.