Politics & Government
New Lights for Aliso Niguel's Batting Cages Helps Little Leaguers, Too
The city will fund 75 percent of the costs, with the Capistrano Unified School District picking up the rest.
is set to get lights for its batting cages, freeing up the popular, already-lighted cages at Woodfield Park for baseball players younger than high-school age.
The city of Aliso Viejo approached the about erecting lights at the on-campus batting cages. Since the school opened in 1994, the school’s baseball team has used Woodfield Park for after-dark batting practice.
The city proposed to pay 75 percent of the cost, with the school district picking up the rest of the $6,500 tab. The school district’s board of trustees unanimously approved the expenditure without comment at its Monday meeting.
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“We’re delighted that the school board approved the project,” said Glenn Yasui, director of administrative services for —unaware he had made a pun. “It’s a nice, win-win project all the way around.”
Not only will Aliso Viejo Little Leaguers have more access to the lighted batting cages at Woodfield Park, but they’ll also be able to use the high school’s cages as long as the baseball team doesn’t need them, according to the agreement.
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“It is understood that priority use at all times will be given to the high school programs,” states a CUSD staff report to the board of trustees.
The high school baseball program has about 100 players, and Aliso Viejo Little League counts about 850 players on its rosters, said Tony DeGruccio, a member of the Little League's board of directors. That all adds up to a lot of waiting in line at the six cages at Woodfield. Batting cages can accommodate only one batter at a time.
With the Aliso Viejo Samurai Baseball Club and the OC Wolves Baseball club, baseball is a year-round sport, DeGruccio added. The new lights at the high school will give all of the teams greater flexibility in scheduling practices, especially in the months when it gets dark early, he said.
The Aliso Viejo City Council will consider funding its portion of the project at its July 20 meeting, Yasui said. Technically, Woodfield Park belongs to the , but the city “has taken on a variety of recreational improvements in Aliso Viejo,” including those on the master homeowner association’s properties, Yasui said.
Upon City Council approval, construction will get under way by the end of the month and take a few weeks to complete, Yasui said. The lights should be up and working by mid-August.
