Diamond 'Gem' Islanders Field To Host Sac-Joaquin Section Playoffs

The CIF Sac-Joaquin Section high school baseball playoffs are coming to Islanders Field in the River Islands community.
The young ballpark next to the San Joaquin River — aka the “Gem of the Valley” — will host section divisional championship games for Divisions 5, 6, and 7, on May 24-26. Sacramento City College will also championship games.
“It just brings awareness to the River Islands community. It’s really positive,” Islanders Field site director Don Johns said of hosting section championships.
Jason Feuerbach, Sac-Joaquin Section associate commissioner, marveled at what he saw during a recent visit to Islanders Field — a 500-seat baseball beauty in the City of Lathrop that is the talk of the region.
“We were looking at some sites down here in the southern part of the section … We heard about Islanders (Field) from some of our schools that were being able to host some high school games there, like specialty-type games, and so I drove down and checked it out, and it’s a beautiful facility and I thought it would be great for our championships.”
In the bustling River Islands community where 15,000 homes are planned over the next 20 years, Islanders Field resembles a minor league or college field.
“That’s exactly how I described it to people who have never been there,” Feuerbach said. “It feels like an old school but new minor league park.”
Islanders Field opened in 2019 as a state-of-the-art ballpark in a mixed use master planned community. The venue was christened with a ribbon cutting celebration, hot dogs, ice cream, and a friendly game pitting the Lathrop-Manteca Fire District and Lathrop Police Department.
The field has since hosted numerous showcases and high school games, featuring the likes of De La Salle, San Ramon Valley, Acalanes, Heritage, Sierra, Ripon, Manteca, Lincoln (Stockton), St. Francis, and others.
Bringing the section championships to Islanders Field adds another level of excitement.
“We at River Islands are excited to see so much top-notch talent come through Islanders Field,” said Susan Dell’Osso, President of River Islands Development. “Providing a great space for players from all over California has always been in our plans. As our own high school gets built in the next few years, our River Islands High School team will be able to practice and play in this beautiful ball field. As for our residents, they have the opportunity to come out to watch great amateur baseball right in their own community.”
Lincoln coach Peter Pijl, a local legend whose young team fell to Oak Ridge 5-4 in the first round of the Division I section playoffs, was awed by Islanders Field when his team played there.
“It’s a great venue,” said Pijl, who has coached high school ball for 36 years. “The stands are awesome, the field is awesome, the lights, the background. It’s the best new stadium we’ve had around here in a while.”
Johns believes the field meets every standard for amateur players and coaches, with batting cages, four bullpens, large dugouts, lights, and outfield dimensions of 380 feet to center and 325 to right and left. There’s natural turf in the batter’s sightline on the hillside and a halo around the home plate area to protect against wear and tear.
It’s all enough to make Johns’ head spin.
“I’ve been coaching baseball for over 30 years and running the (Danville) HOOTS, I’ve been in a lot of baseball stadiums,” Johns said. “I’ve been in national championship games all across the country, and I haven’t seen anything different from Islanders Field than what you would see at a minor league ballpark or a collegiate stadium. … When we do Area Code out there, which is Major League Baseball, I have guys like John Savage, the UCLA head coach, tell me, ‘I don’t think you missed a thing.’”
Pijl also praises Johns — a baseball purist who puts kids first.
“Don Johns is a super, super good guy,” Pijl said "It’s all about kids, all about baseball, and yeah, that facility is awesome. The dugouts are big league, the stands are big league. … It’s the best venue for youth baseball and high school baseball in our area, in our section probably.”
Soon enough, some of the section’s best baseball teams will see that for themselves.

* UPDATE: As of 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, the section championship games scheduled for Islanders Field are as follows: Division 5, No. 1 seed Bradshaw Christian vs. No. 6 Hughson, Thursday, May 26, 6 p.m.; Division 6, No. 1 Alpha Charter vs. No. 2 Mariposa County, May 25, 6 p.m.; Division 7, No. 4 Valley Christian vs. No. 2 Turlock Christian, May 24, 6 p.m. The winners will advance to the NorCal Regional Playoffs bracket. For Sac-Joaquin Section Playoff updates and info., visit https://cifsjs.org/sports/bsb/info.

* Islanders Field will be hosting a long list of showcase events over the summer, including the NorCal World Series Freshman, June 4-5; Bay Area World Series, June 10-12; MLB Area Code Tryouts, June 13-15; Prep Baseball Rising Stars, June 16; Perfect Game West Select Tournament, June 23-26; NorCal Tournament, June 29-July 3; NorCal Invitational, July 7-10; Islanders Field Elite Invitational, July 14-17; and California State Cup North vs. South, July 20-24. For updates, visit http://www.islandersfield.org.
* Longtime San Francisco Giants coach Ron Wotus and popular radio personality Marty Lurie, who hosts “Talkin’ Baseball” on KNBR during the Giants’ season, are ambassadors for Islanders Field.