The 2010 regular season winds to a close this week but don't fret as the post-season begins this Saturday July 31!  On Saturday, the 8th and 9th place teams in Division A will play a one game playoff to see who gets the #8 seed in the double-elimination tournament.  This makes Wednesdays game between Chapel Hill and Peninsula Lutheran very interesting as the loser of that game will have to play in the 8/9 eliminator!  There will also be 3 Division B games on the 31st.  The Division B tournament is single-elimination so every game counts!  On Sunday the 1st, all 8 Division A teams will have a 1st round game and the rest of the Division B teams will play.  Then the meat of the tournament is Saturday August 7 where every team remaining will play 1-3 games.  Finally on Sunday the 8th we will have 3rd place games and the two championship contests, with Division B at 3:30 and Division A at 5:30.  Mark your calendars now and do not miss these two fantastic games. 

In Division A, the Believers Fellowship Halos have the #1 seed locked up for the third year in a row.  Hopefully the 3rd time will be the charm in terms of winning the tournament!  Defending champs Harborview and 07/08 champs Harbor Covenant will be the #2 and #3 seeds, to be determined later this week.  In Division B, there is a fantastic 3 way battle for the #1 seed.  The vastly improved GH Nazarene Wailers sit atop the heap at 11-2, but Harbor Christian and Agnus Dei are lurking right behind at 10-2 with one game to play.  This will certainly come down to the tie-breaker which is average runs against.  The 2010 tournament is shaping up to be a classic!

We have reached the half-way point in the 2010 season and it's been a great one so far.  In Division A play, the BF Halos took down the BF Bombers right before the break to take a 1/2 game lead in the division at 5-2.  But 7 of 9 teams are within a game and a half of the lead!  It's going to be a wild finish as so many teams are so evenly matched.  In Division B play, a few teams have set themselves apart to this point.  Agnus Dei beat Harbor Christian to even up with them at 6-1.  Right behind are the most improved team from 2009, the GH Nazarene Wailers at 5-1.  Get ready for some hot weather ahead, bring lots of fluids to avoid dehydration.  Have a blast out there!

The 2010 season opened with a bang on Thursday the 10th with two close games at the beautiful new Homestead park.  Agnus Dei outlasted the Chapel Hill Warriors 16-11, while the Division A game between Peninsula Lutheran and Burley Bible was a thriller.  The game was full of sharp line drive hitting, with many runs scored.  The score went back and forth throughout and Burley took a 24-22 lead into the 7th inning.  Peninsula Lutheran took the lead for good in the top of the 7th though capped off by coach Joe's bases clearing triple, and held on for a wild 29-24 victory.  Follow scores and standings all season here on the website and provide commentary of your own in the league message forum.  Play ball!

We are now a little over a week away from the start of the 2010 softball season!  As if that wasn't exciting enough, today we received some great news, that PenMet Parks has partnered with GHCSL for use of the brand new Sehmel Homestead Park.  If you haven't been out to the new park yet, it will take your breath away.  It is beautiful, a dream come true for our league.  We will be able to play more than half of our regular season games at the new park.  We will also hold our season ending tournament and all-star game at the new facility.  To kick off the season, Agnus Dei will play the Chapel Hill Warriors while Penisula Lutheran will face the Burley Blue Angels at Homestead Park on Thursday June 10 at 6:15pm.  This season opener will certainly be a special occasion so please come out to celebrate with us, tour the new park, and watch some softball.  See you there!

Registration for the 2010 softball season will close on Thursday May 20.  Response has been tremendous as we will have at least 20 teams and likely more.  Don't miss out on your chance to join the league for fun and fellowship this summer!

We will use a division format similar to last season, with Division A co-ed competitive and Division B family/rec.  There will be 10-12 teams in each division.  Looking forward to a great season!

GHCSL is now accepting team reservations through the pre-registration process for the Summer 2010 season.  Team reservations can be made without payment, and will hold your team a spot based on a first come first serve basis.  Once payment is made, your registration is locked in and cannot be bumped.  There will be 10 spots in the open division and 10 spots in the family/rec division.  Contact the Commish at rfloberg@comcast.net to pre-register.

Congratulations to Harborview Fellowship on a dominating run through the GHCSL Division A tournament!  S.C. won all 4 of their games without a close call, and playing amazing defense.  First they beat the Chapel Hill Titans 11-4.  Next they took down Harbor Covenant 9-5.  They upset the undefeated BF Halos in the finals of the winners bracket by a score of 10-5.  And in the Championship Game, they jumped on the two-time defending champs Harbor Covenant early and it was never close, with a final score of 16-7.  Truly a remarkable series of games!  Harborview was a team on a mission this postseason, with avid fans, a full squad of players, and a sense of team unity that the other teams could not match.  Congratulations to the new Champions of the Gig Harbor Church League!

Champions:  Harborview Fellowship S.C.

Runner-up:  Harbor Covenant Kangaroos

3rd place:  Believers Fellowship Halos

4th place:  Burley Bible Blue Angels

5th place:  Chapel Hill Thumpers

The Fox Island Firefoxes are the first ever GHCSL Division B champions after on of the most remarkable runs through the tournament in history.  In the semi-finals, they beat the Harbor Covenant Cubs 16-15.  In the final game of the winners bracket, they defeated the Peninsula Lutheran God Squad 15-14 in 8 innings.  And finally in the Championship Game, they again beat Peninsula Lutheran by one run, 13-12.  All three games by one!  The Championship Game was a thriller, with Fox Island jumping out ahead early 7-1.  Peninsula Lutheran fought back with a max 7 run inning to take the lead 8-7.  The lead changed hands twice more with the God Squad holding a 12-11 lead after the top of the 7th inning.  The Firefoxes were down to their final out, and hit a 2 run game winning triple to win the game!  Fabulous tournament all around in the B Division.  Congrats to the Fox Island Firefoxes on a fine season!

Champions:  Fox Island Firefoxes

Runner-up:  Peninsula Lutheran God Squad

3rd place:  Chapel Hill Hilltoppers

4th place:  Harbor Covenant Cubs

5th place:  Believers Fellowship Bombers

5th place:  Harbor Christian Center Bombers

It was a great day of softball all day Saturday the 8th as teams battled it out to survive the double elimination bracket.  In Division A Harborview S.C. pulled two upsets to sit atop the winners bracket.  The #1 seed BF Halos and #2 seed HC Kangaroos will battle it out in the 3rd place game to see who gets a shot at payback with Harborview.

In Division B there are 4 teams left.  Fox Island and Peninsula Lutheran will meet in the finals of the winners bracket, while CH Hilltoppers and HC Cubs will play in the 4th place game.  Both division championships will be played tomorrow the 9th.  BUT, if the winner of the comeback bracket wins the game, a 2nd championship game will need to be scheduled sometime next week.  Join us at the fields on Sunday for some thrilling tournament games!

Starting this Saturday the 1st, the 2009 GHCSL Tournament is set to begin.  This year is a first as we have two tournaments running at the same time.  One for each division.  The tournament brackets are now complete and available to view from the website.  Look at the bottom right for downloadable files and you will see the three bracket pages.  Looking forward to a great event and tournament weekend on the 8th and 9th at Volunteer Park!