CHILDREN'S BASEBALL ON ITS WAY TO CASTAIC.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Daily News Staff Writer

By day, Larry Delmeese is a gang investigator in one of L.A.'s toughest neighborhoods. But when he slips off his badge and lays down his holster, he's another Valencia dad, with a vested interest his community.

Thus Delmeese, whose daughter is just 4, has taken an interest in plans to form a Little League in Castaic. Parents have been meeting in recent weeks and plan an opening day in June.

Keeping kids involved in sports, Delmeese said, is the best way to keep them out of trouble.

Delmeese, assigned to the state-funded Gang Violence Suppression Program in Lennox, points to that community, where he sees a correlation between the 1994 demise of the Lennox Little League and a rise in drug use and gang-related crime among youths.

The converse, too, has proven true since his unit worked with school officials to resurrect the baseball program this year.

``What we've found was that the kids are doing better in school, they're obviously busy now with more alternatives because of baseball,'' said Delmeese, who is the Lennox league's volunteer treasurer. ``Here in Lennox, we had about 40 of our kids going out of the area to play baseball. But when we opened up our own program, we immediately got 220 kids.

``The same is true in Castaic. For some of the kids in Val Verde and Castaic, if it's available, they'll play it. If they have to travel . . . they won't go.''

Deputy Harry Hauge of the Santa Clarita Valley sheriff's station has made it his job to work with needy kids in the Val Verde area, Sgt. Howard Fairchild said. The Castaic/Val Verde area, he added, is in need of more recreation opportunities.

``In Santa Clarita, the city has done a monumental job, but that's an area we need more,'' Fairchild said. Val Verde and Castaic are in unincorporated county territory.

Delmeese is convinced there is a tie between the low crime rates in cities such as Santa Clarita and Thousand Oaks and their strong youth sports programs.

``I don't think that's a coincidence at all,'' he said. ``Kids' participation and parents' support is what makes these organizations strong reinforcers.''

So when Delmeese learned in the off-season Castaic was forming a league to begin play this summer, he offered his help. He went to meetings of the fledgling league board and suggested ways the league could raise money through public grants.

In the Santa Clarita Valley, youngsters in Castaic and Val Verde can travel the more than 10 miles to play in the William S. Hart Pony and Softball League in Valencia, or a half-hour to the Canyon Country Little League. Both programs hit capacity each season.

Delmeese said he would like to see two or three more youth baseball leagues - starting in Newhall, which has pockets of low-income families and kids in need of recreation.

``In areas like that where there's nothing for the kid - if you put something there, there's a lot less do to get in trouble,'' he said.