Gig Harbor male athlete of the year: Utah baseball signee Toglia a two-sport star for Tides

It was hard to pin down his favorite memory at Gig Harbor High School, but Zach Toglia will always remember the great times he had playing baseball with his friends.

The future University of Utah player is the youngest of the three Toglia brothers. He follows Michael, playing in the Colorado Rockies’ minor league system, and Sebastian, attending Washington State University.

“Playing sports at Gig Harbor has been one of the greatest experiences in my life,” he said. “I’ve played on some of the most fun teams I’ve ever been a part of. High school baseball gave me the opportunity to play baseball with my older brother (Sebastian), which was something I’ve never done before… Basketball, I’ve played my entire life, and it was really great being coached by coach (Billy) Landram, he helped make me the person I am today.”

Toglia has been a consistent and great competitor throughout his time as a Tide, and he leaves his mark behind in both baseball and basketball.

In baseball, he made the 3A South Sound Conference All-League team in 2019 and came in third place in state with the Tides. He also made the 4A South Puget Sound League All-League team in 2021, and was a first-team selection to The News Tribune’s 2021 All-Area team.

And in basketball, he made the 3A SSC All-League teams in 2019 (second team) and 2020.

Toglia is The Peninsula Gateway’s senior male Athlete of the Year from Gig Harbor.

“He was a great competitor, he really looks forward to the situations where some people might think they were pressure situations,” said baseball coach Pete Jansen. “He thrives in those types of situations. We only played 10 games, he had 13 runs batted in and most of them were RBI that put us ahead.”

Because of the shortened seasons this year, Toglia wasn’t able to play a whole season in either baseball or basketball.

However, it didn’t stop him from putting up stellar numbers for both teams. His senior season alone saw Toglia batting at a .467 average with six doubles and 10 runs scored.

A gifted third baseman and a tenacious batter, Toglia was the guy Jansen wanted in the batters’ box when they needed that spark or go-ahead hit.

“He was the guy you wanted up there when the game was on the line or when you needed the big hit to tie the game or go ahead,” Jansen said. “He was one of the leading hitters on the third-place state team his sophomore year. He just had a lot of confidence and he had a real joy for the game. He’s a really good baseball player, a great kid and a fine young man.”

One of the reasons why Toglia has been able to separate himself from other players is how he handles failure. Rather than letting it eat away at him, Toglia will analyze what went wrong and plan to correct it.

He was one of two players that consistently employed a two-strike approach during the season. He had to discipline himself to not swing at balls that were out of the strike zone and work to get a hitters’ count. Of course, when you have that level of discipline, it will grant loads of confidence, of which Toglia had in spades.

As a basketball player, he also played a key role in helping get the Tides back to the top of the league for the first time in 22 years his junior year.

“He’s a terrific kid and a hard worker,” said basketball coach Billy Landram. “The only downside, if you could even say so, is he’s just so successful that he’s busy. He’s so good at school, baseball and everything else that he’s just so busy. It’s absolutely fabulous to have him in the program.”

As an eighth grader, before he tried out for either team, Toglia met with Landram and Jansen by chance at his older brother’s (Michael) graduation party. He told them that he planned to make the varsity basketball team before the end of his freshman year.

Toglia’s hard-working attitude earned him that spot by the last quarter of his freshman season and he never looked back.

As a sophomore, he led the Tides in scoring, rebounding and assists. He became captain of the team his junior and senior years as well. Ever the team player, he put time and effort into getting better through weight training and practice.

“He’s going to be successful in athletics and in life no matter what he chooses to do,” Landram said. “He’s just that type of kid. There’s no excuses for when things are going wrong. He just says yes and goes and tries his hardest.”

If there is a lasting legacy that Toglia leaves behind at Gig Harbor, it is that he wants younger athletes to see him and strive for the same success he had.

Whether it was getting a clutch hit for the baseball team or scoring the most points for the basketball team, Toglia has had a fruitful career as a Tide.

Now he will move on to Utah and pursue success in Salt Lake City.

“I’m hoping I leave behind an impact for the younger guys. I want to inspire some of the younger kids to play Gig Harbor sports and be involved in all of that,” Toglia said. “I just hope I can leave behind something where the kids will say, ‘Hey, I want to be like Zach Toglia’. It doesn’t have to be just baseball and basketball. Whatever they do, they do it successfully.”