The Elton Goodwin Memorial Foundation hosted a “Tribute To Our Troops” game to honor the Armed Forces community.

For the second consecutive year, the Gig Harbor and South Kitsap high school baseball teams faced off at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma for a clash of the Narrows League rivals.

The foundation worked with members of the Gig Harbor booster club to provide camouflage-print uniforms for both teams. To honor local fallen soldiers, each of the jerseys displayed the name and rank of a troop from the Kitsap and Key peninsulas who gave their life in combat.

Security National Mortgage Company helped provide the sponsored jerseys.

Forty-eight soldiers were honored during the game. Army Pfc. Devon Gibbons, a 2005 South Kitsap graduate, was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his service in Iraq, was one of those 48 honored. His father attended the ceremony to receive his son’s jersey from South Kitsap second baseman Bryce Wolf.

South Kitsap head coach Marcus Logue said the theme of that week’s practice was service and sacrifice, and that, as a team, they “really seemed to get it.”

Last year, Gig Harbor (who finished third in the 2015 state tournament) beat the Wolves 4-2. However, South Kitsap ended up on top this year, winning 5-4 and handing the Tides their first league loss of the season.

Although the teams went back and forth throughout the game, in the bottom of the sixth, South Kitsap scored on a sacrifice fly from sophomore Drew Garcia. And, due to a throwing error from Gig Harbor, a second runner was able to score and secure the Wolves’ lead for the remainder of the game.

Several advertisers and sponsors made the game possible: American Legion Post 30 in Port Orchard, American Legion Post 236 in Gig Harbor, Gig Harbor Baseball Boosters, and the Elton Goodwin Memorial Foundation, to name a few.

The Elton Goodwin Memorial Foundation is a nonprofit, public charity, where 100 percent of the funds received are used to provide impactful, scholastic and athletic opportunities for the children of Kitsap County.

Austin Bayne earned the MVP title of the game, going three-for-three on the day. Other leading hitters included Conner Seaton and Hunter Riley, who both went one-for-two.

South Kitsap ultimately earned the win, but it’s safe to say everyone was victorious at this special event.

— edited by Sara Miller