FORMER GANG MEMBERS TAKE BATTLE TO BALLFIELD LAPD TEAM, LOCAL SQUAD BAT FOR AN END TO VIOLENCE.

Byline: BRENT HOPKINS Staff Writer

NORTH HILLS -- Robert Corona stepped behind home plate and forgot about his troubled past.

There were no homeboys, just teammates. No rival sets, no colors, no gang signs. With his fingers, he called plays; on his back, he wore a uniform. Corona was no longer a gangbanger, he was a ballplayer.

``When I had money and time, I had tendencies to go out and get into trouble,'' said Corona, now 28, a Granada Hills homeowner and studio construction worker. ``But these guys got me playing again. I always loved the game -- you get the same adrenaline rush you feel out on the street, but here you're getting tagged out or ending up with some scrapes and bruises. Out there, you're getting shot and going to the emergency room.''

Tattooed, bearded and pierced, Corona still looks tough on the diamond and he proved to be a hardened competitor as he suited up Saturday with the Park Bums, a San Fernando-based squad of ex-cons, former gangsters and neighborhood guys.

As part of the annual Make a Difference Day, the team joined with cops, probation officers, neighborhood advocates and gangsters for a fierce softball tournament.

The event drew a crowd of nearly 500, beginning with a series of speeches from officials and community members whose sons were cut down in the streets by gang violence. They marched through the streets, chanting in Spanish and English, demanding an end to the killing.

A few hard-looking young men, heads covered in do-rags, toned arms flexed and crossed over their chests, stared at the marchers. Donald ``D'' Garcia, an ex-member of the gang La Eme who now works with the intervention group Communities in Schools, stared back and asked them to join him in peace at the nearby park. They met his eyes and nodded with respect.

On the field, the teams went at each other with ferocious passion, tempered by the good-natured ribbing that comes when a group of men put on stretch pants and baseball spikes. The Los Angeles Police Department sent out its crack squad of officers, the LAPD Blue, to square off in the first match against the Bums.

Fiercely competitive and known for their crisp style of play, the cops had an array of tough-looking men at the ready to compete.

``Oh, I don't think I'll be out there today. ... I'll leave that to the guys who know what they're doing,'' chuckled Chief William Bratton before moving on to more serious topics. ``The Valley does this better than anyone and it's particularly important now, given the growth in (the gang) problem. Finding activities like this gives kids something to do, keeps 'em off the street.''

That was the threatening undercurrent to the friendly games on the field -- 73 homicides in the Valley this year, 38 of them gang-related. While overall violent crime has dropped, Bratton and the other LAPD brass on hand noted that gang crimes are rising. So they went at it on Saturday with their bats and gloves.

``People say, `Why are you playing with these gang members?''' said Deputy Chief Michel Moore. ``The gang exists as a criminal enterprise, so I don't have a soft heart for them. We need to extinguish the gang, but we can't do that with sheer force. Today, if the people playing ball see something in the officers and change their path, then we've won.''

That passion shown through on the field as LAPD Blue dug in against the Park Bums. The hardscrabble Valley squad struck hard first, swatting three home runs in the first inning alone, but the cops came thundering back for a wild opening to the contest.

They battered each other, inning after inning, until the top of the seventh, when the Bums scored five runs to pull ahead. Though the Blue answered back with a few runs, it could not top the powerful Valley team, ending the game down a run, 18-17.

``They're having fun out here instead of planning their next adventure on the streets,'' said Bums coach George Yuhasz, whose sons Steven and Matthew were killed in gang-related shootings in 2003. ``Maybe later on, they're too tired to go out and get into trouble.''

In the end, both teams were eliminated, leaving another Yuhasz-led squad, Desmond, to face Van Nuys in the championship match. Van Nuys, a two-time victor in the tournament, slugged its way to a 19-15 win.

``You wouldn't believe the things we see out here, 14-year-olds who can't wait to get to San Quentin because of something they heard in some gangster rap,'' said William ``Blinky'' Rodriguez, Communities in Schools' executive director. ``But maybe if we plant that seed, we can come in on a day like this and then they start thinking of becoming an athlete. Maybe they start thinking of graduating high school.''

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(1 -- 2) Above from left, Aurelia Fajardo with a photo of her slain son, Alex Fajardo, Gracia Morquecho with a photo of her slain son, Alonso Morquecho, and Sandy Fajardo with a photo of her slain brother, Alex Fajardo, reflect before the start of a peace march from North Hills Community Park to Sepulveda Recreation Center in North Hills on Saturday morning during the Games for Peace event bringing community members together against gang violence as part of Make a Difference Day. At left, the LAPD softball team congratulates the Park Bums of San Fernando for their win.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer