New Softball, Baseball Fields Almost Finished at Camarillo

Camarillo High is building new baseball and softball fields, a project that is scheduled to be concluded in time for the 1992 season and includes more than $4.3 million in improvements.

The project, funded in part by the Oxnard Union High School District, languished in the talk stages for eight years before construction began last year.

The district purchased 11.89 acres, at a cost of about $3.1 million, west of the school’s former property line between Mission Oaks Boulevard and Santa Rosa Road. The property was owned by the Fitzgerald family, which has roots back to the city’s founding.

The acquisition allows Camarillo to build two softball diamonds, two baseball fields and two parking lots. The current varsity baseball field is sandwiched into a corner along Highway 101 and Adolpho Road.

Construction has limited the school to one field--the current varsity diamond--for the varsity, junior-varsity and freshman teams. The junior varsity shares practice time with the varsity.

The freshman team is playing its entire schedule away from home. The junior varsity plays on the road when the varsity is home and vice versa.

Pardee Construction and Caltrans purchased the property that includes the current varsity field. Construction of an on-ramp for northbound Highway 101 traffic is scheduled for June 15.

The fields and parking lots will sit west of the on-ramp. The school will close the current lot, on the corner of Adolpho and Mission Oaks, because it forces students to cross a busy intersection in order to reach campus.

According to Principal Donald Bathgate, only seed and clay are needed to make the fields ready.