By The Signal Editorial Board
For many sports fans, the end of the football season marks the beginning of that torturous waiting period — the dead, interminable days of winter before the very first sign of spring: the day when pitchers and catchers report to training camp.
With our usual mild winters, perhaps here in the Santa Clarita Valley we don’t place as much psychological weight on baseball as a sign of the end of winter, and the beginning of spring. However, this year, we have a couple of extra factors that are making the onset of spring, and spring baseball, that much more exciting.
First, we’re actually having a winter. It makes one look forward to spring a little more eagerly.
And second, for the approximately 400 families of Santa Clarita Youth Baseball, it means the promise of a new home has now become a reality.
Last fall, the future of the league — one of several youth baseball and softball organizations in the SCV — looked highly uncertain, as the league received news that it was being kicked out of its four-year home, a youth baseball complex that had been built on the grounds of the Valencia Travel Village RV park.
The owner of Travel Village, Ira Robb, informed the league that the baseball diamonds were going to be bulldozed to make way for more space for RVs.
The league’s last game at Travel Village would be Nov. 10, and the news left league leaders high and dry. That is, until the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger stepped in.
Barger and her team coordinated with county Parks and Recreation Department officials to find a new home for the Santa Clarita Youth Baseball League.
The new location is the Castaic Sports Complex — also the home to a new skate park that just opened last month. And, as of this writing, the kids, parents and coaches were scheduled on Saturday to kick off their spring season with the traditional youth baseball opening day ceremonies and player parade. Kathryn Barger was slated to be on hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
It’s an exciting time, not only as a harbinger of spring, but also as the payoff for the efforts of people including parents, league organizers and county officials who worked together to make something positive happen for the kids.
Congratulations to all involved on a job well done. Now play ball!
