Edmonds-Woodway baseball ‘excited’ to play in Mariners’ ballpark

The perfectly manicured grass. The massive centerfield video board. The backdrop of 47,000-plus seats.

For one afternoon, the Edmonds-Woodway baseball team will get a taste of big-league life in the Seattle Mariners’ ballpark.

The Warriors are set to face Mount Si in a nonleague game Sunday at T-Mobile Park, formerly known as Safeco Field. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. and admission is free.

“The kids are super excited about it, so it’s going to be a great opportunity for them,” Edmonds-Woodway coach Dan Somoza said. “Every baseball player growing up dreams of playing in the major leagues. … A lot of these kids grew up (watching) the Mariners, and to get a chance to be on the same field that they’re on is just something special.”

The game is part of the annual High School Baseball Classic, which provides a number of prep baseball teams the opportunity to play at the Mariners’ stadium over the course of the spring. Somoza said the Warriors were on a waiting list for several years before finding out last summer they’d been selected to participate this season.

“To get this opportunity, I can’t say enough about the excitement these kids have had to play here,” he said.

For the handful of players who were part of Edmonds-Woodway’s 2017 state semifinal team, this won’t be their first time playing in the Mariners’ ballpark.

During the final two rounds of the Class 3A state tournament two years ago, the Warriors played a semifinal game and a third-place contest at what was then named Safeco Field. That was the only year in the past eight seasons that the Mariners’ stadium has hosted the semifinal and championship rounds of the 4A and 3A state tournaments.

“I told them they’re the luckiest guys around to get to play there two times in three years,” Somoza said. “… You get to play on the best field around.”