South San Francisco High School plays ball on new baseball, softball diamonds

It was 2018 when the ball got rolling on South San Francisco’s new on-campus baseball and softball diamonds. But, when the project was at last completed last September, the teams couldn’t access their new facilities due to the coronavirus closures. Two weeks ago, though, the Warriors finally got to participate in baseball and softball activities on their new fields.

“I never thought I’d see a day where I could walk out of the PE office and come out here for practice,” said Matt Schaukowitch, South San Francisco athletic director and baseball manager.

And this week, the baseball team has started practicing five days a week, setting in motion — at long last — a new era in South City athletics.

“It was basically just sitting there (during the closures),” Schaukowitch said. “We got to do a little bit of conditioning from October to December on it, but we weren’t able to use any equipment on it. But now we are able to use actual equipment on it and have actual practice.”

South City used to house two plots of grassy land, used for practice fields, respectively located on the north and south sides of the central gymnasium. The softball diamond is now nestled to the north of the gym, with the baseball diamond past a blacktop area on the south side.

It’s a picturesque baseball backdrop with a home plate facing a panorama of South San Francisco Hillside Sign, and the playing field itself cropped with old-school natural Kentucky bluegrass.

And the best part, according to Schaukowitch: No “O.P. hops” — meaning, Orange Park hops, the nickname given to infield grounders that would take bad hops when they’d bound off lousy acorns.

“We’re excited to have both (fields) on campus for sure,” Schaukowitch said.

It’s a common storyline in the coronavirus era, kids wanting to get back to school activities, including athletics. In the South San Francisco Unified School District, this was a more challenging issue as district high schools South San Francisco and El Camino were prohibited from resuming athletics practices, even as Peninsula programs from other school districts that play in the same Peninsula Athletic League were allowed to.

South San Francisco parents and students challenged the prohibition at a special meeting of the SSF school board Jan. 28. South City football player Luis Bernardino was one of many to give an address prior to athletics being allowed to resume following a unanimous vote by the school board later that evening.

“Not just for our sport but other sports as well … I just think it was as fair for us to get a shot to play our season,” said Jaden Francisco, a South City senior and four-year varsity baseball player.

Francisco, like many a high school athlete, is depending on his senior year to navigate his future. The senior said he is looking to showcase his abilities this spring in hopes of playing at the collegiate level. So, when it looked as though there might not even be a baseball season this year, many seniors were left to worry if they’d ever play the sport again.

“I’d say it was very emotional because of having our season 50-50 and not fully having the answer to play our senior season,” Francisco said. “And for me, I want to continue playing baseball, this is the sport I grew up playing … so hopefully playing my senior season will put me out there and get me looked at by other colleges and I’ll be able to explore my options.”

Now, not only is South City back on the baseball diamond and enjoying honest to goodness practices with bats and balls and everything, the Warriors have scheduled opening day for March 29, when they hope to debut their new digs by hosting Capuchino at 4 p.m. Only essential personnel will be allowed on site. Spectators will not be allowed at the game.

“I would say they were pretty ecstatic,” Schaukowitch said of his team getting back on the diamond. “Just being out here, we weren’t 100% sure where the season was going. But the reaction from them, they’re just happy to be out here and be getting some work in.”

The Warriors had long called the off-campus Bob Brian Field their home. Beyond its dubious arboriculture, the field had its limitations in terms of baseball operations as well, with nary a batting cage, bullpen, nor place to store equipment such as practice screens and pitching machines.

“Down at Orange Park, if you wanted to throw a bullpen, you had to use the game mound,” Schaukowitch said. “So that really limited what you could do.”

The new on-campus diamond has all these amenities. And the silver lining from the later start to the season — Central Coast Section baseball traditionally opens the last week of February — is it has given the Warriors over a month to break in their new diamond.

“For us, it’s good that we get some extra time out here on our new field and see how it plays, and all the nooks and crannies that are going on,” Schaukowitch said.