Woodside baseball team to play ball! Lots of ball!

But the Woodside High School baseball program is taking the “marathon” term to the extreme, as the Wildcats will take to the field Saturday morning and embark on a 100-inning baseball fundraiser.

Having recently done a major renovation on the field with donations raised over the years, the baseball program at Woodside is looking to refill its coffers.

“We did it at Menlo in the early ’80s. We did it again for (an American Legion) fundraiser. We did it at Woodside, maybe, eight years ago,” said Tim Goode, Woodside JV manager and longtime baseball man on the Peninsula. “The reason I like this fundraiser is that everything we raise is coming to us. We don’t pay a middleman. [The players] are not just asking for a handout. They’re actually going out and doing something.”

The 38-member Woodside program — 21 varsity players and 17 on the JV — will be mixed into two teams and will simply play ball for 100 innings. A pitching machine will be used to save the pitchers’ arms and substitutes will be used liberally.

After all, it’s supposed to be fun and with the players themselves having put in some sweat equity in helping with the renovations, Goode hopes they have an appreciation for their new digs.

“That’s part of the challenge for the coaches, is trying to sell the kids this is fun. This is not a burden,” Goode said. “Do you want to wash cars (as a fundraiser) or do you want to hit curveballs?”

While the goal is raise funds for the baseball program, Goode also looks at it as an excellent opportunity to get a lot of baseball practice under the players’ belts.

“There is a significant baseball benefit (to this),” Goode said. “We’ll do situations where we’ll do a set of innings and do hit-and-runs. Then we’ll have a set of innings where we throw curveballs and sliders.

“Ideally, this takes place at the beginning of the year to raise funds and you get a lot of baseball work. Ideally this would have taken place in February, but nothing is ideal this year.”

The fundraiser became a necessity when the program decided to upgrade its field for the first time since its inception in 1963, a field Goode, who grew up in Redwood City, called a “goat patch.”

“There was no grass on the field. It was all weeds,” Goode said.

Goode said the team replaced the chain link fence backstop with traditional baseball stadium netting.

“We took down the Cyclone (Fence) backstop from 1963, that (former longtime Woodside manager and former pro scout) Bob Poole built, that lasted half a century,” Goode said.

The wooden backstop was painted black to match the netting, the infield was re-sodded and a new warning track was constructed in front of the dugouts.

“We tore out the infield and collar and put in Bermuda sod. The irrigation was brought up to snuff,” Goode said.

The rest was spent on equipment to maintain the field as the Woodside baseball program, and not the Sequoia Union High School District, will take over maintenance of the field.

Because of the baseball-specific sod used, traditional lawn mowers are not usable on the field. Goode also said there was concern about contaminating the field with unwanted weeds from district-used mowers.

“You need reel mowers. They’re like four grand. … The district doesn’t have the right mowers,” Goode said. “The other thing is, we don’t want [district] equipment on that sod. It brings in weed contaminants from every other field in the district.”

The funds raised will also be used to pay players to mow and maintain the field throughout the summer.

All in all, Goode said it cost about $80,000 for the renovations — and it didn’t include an outfield upgrade.

“The outfield was such that there was no quick fix. You’d have to take it all up,” Goode said. “That’s, like, another $140,000.”

While the Woodside baseball program will benefit most from the upgrades, Goode said he wants the field to be part of the greater baseball community. He would like to see the Redwood City senior league use the field, along with local youth teams.

“We want (teams who use it) to appreciate it,” Goode said. “We want it to be a community resource, for sure — for baseball.”

What he doesn’t want to see the field become is a multi-purpose, multi-sport site.

“They don’t need to play soccer in the outfield,” Goode said.

So how long does Goode think it will take to play 100 innings? He initially didn’t want to put a timeframe on it. A traditional high school game takes roughly two hours to play. But this is not a normal game. Players will be expected to be hacking at the plate.

“I don’t want to say it because I’ll be bitter if we go past,” Goode said with a laugh. “It really depends on the spirit of the participants. We can get it done by 3, 3:30 (p.m.). Get there at 8:30 (a.m.), set up, start at 9. Burritos at 11:30.”

Those interested in making a donation to the Woodside baseball program can do so at https://woodsideathletics.membershiptoolkit.com/packet/17259210.