RIVER THREATENS BASEBALL DIAMONDS.Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer The game could be called on account of rain if steps aren't taken soon to keep fields of the William S. Hart PONY Baseball/Softball complex from being swept away by the rain-swollen Santa Clara River Santa Clara River may refer to:
The league, which registers 4,000 players each year into spring and winter leagues of its boys and girls boys and girls mercurialisannua. teams, plays at a 10-field complex bordering Valencia Boulevard along the riverbed. But league organizers are appealing for public help to shore up the natural bottom river so that the flowing water doesn't cause further damage to the complex, where 2,800 youngsters ages 5 to 18 will open their four-month season this Saturday. ``The recent heavy rains have caused the Santa Clara River, which borders our complex, to erode the banks of the river and . . . destroy one baseball field. (It) now threatens our other fields,'' Dan Schlender, president of the Hart PONY league The Pennsylvania-Ontario-New York League, also known as the PONY League, was a Class D minor league baseball circuit that played from 1939 through 1956. The forerunner of the modern Class A New York - Penn League, the PONY served as the first professional baseball address of board of directors, said in a letter of appeal to community supporters. The river, which is habitat to two endangered species endangered species, any plant or animal species whose ability to survive and reproduce has been jeopardized by human activities. In 1999 the U.S. government, in accordance with the U.S. - the least Bell's vireo vireo, small, migratory songbird of the New World. Some species nest in the United States, but the majority are tropical. Vireos (also called greenlets) range from 4 to 6 1/2 in. (10.2–16. , a rare songbird songbird Any oscine passerine (suborder Passere), all of which have a complex vocal organ, the syrinx. Some species (e.g., thrushes) produce melodious songs; others (e.g., crows) have a harsh voice; and some do little or no singing. See also birdsong. , and the unarmored three-spined stickleback stickleback, common name for members of the family Gasterosteidae, small fishes, widely distributed in both fresh- and saltwaters of the Northern Hemisphere. Sticklebacks range from 1 1-2 to 4 in. (3. , a tiny fish - falls under the environmental supervision of several state and federal agencies, Schlender explained. ``Laws protecting this area made it impossible to do anything to save the baseball field from the rushing waters of the swollen river without (obtaining) numerous required permits,'' his open letter said. The league is seeking ``tons of clean concrete and rocks,'' along with the use of trucks and tractors to move it, and hundreds of steel pipes measuring 16 feet long and 2-1/2 inches in diameter and 12-foot-high steel fencing. They hope to build a barrier called a ``double abatement system'' that will shore up the riverbanks, Schlender said. He credited City Councilwoman Jo Anne Darcy, county Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich Michael Dennis Antonovich (born 1939 in Los Angeles, California) is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors representing the Fifth District, which covers northern Los Angeles County, the Antelope, Santa Clarita, Pasadena, and parts of the San Fernando and San and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with helping the league secure the necessary federal, state and county permits in an expedited manner and at a nominal cost. Schlender said that vegetation growth in the riverbed is blocking the flow on the far side of the waterway, narrowing the passage through which rainstorm runoff can travel. ``The natural flow (direction) of the river has shifted, to where it's flowing toward our complex,'' he said. The PONY league complex borders the confluence of the Santa Clara River and its South Fork South Fork may refer to:
``The river is so wide in that area, and it's choosing to take a path of about 50 feet wide near our complex - where the river itself is several hundred feet wide,'' Schlender said. Two experts are donating their services to the league - Lou Courtois, a Ventura-based consultant to The Newhall Land and Farming Company The Newhall Land and Farming Company is a land management company based in Valencia, California, United States. The company is responsible for the master community planning of Valencia, as well as the management of farm land elsewhere in the state. , and Jora Sarkissian , an engineer whose child plays in the league. Newhall Land owns the property through which that stretch of the river flows and the 17.5 acres of land on which the PONY diamonds are built. Schlender said the league also will appeal to Rep. Howard ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, for help. ``I would like (McKeon) to ask . . . the Army Corps and other government agencies to permit us to rechannel the water away from our complex,'' he said. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO (Color) Greg Pascolla, director of the Hart PONY Fields, uses a tractor in an attempt to fill a gully opened by rain at the diamonds in Valencia. By John Lazar/Special to the Daily News |
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