EDITORIAL

Somewhere the birds are singing. Flowers are in bloom, moms are busy

baking apple pies and peace reigns on Earth.

Yes, all is right with the world.

Baseball has been saved at TeWinkle Park.

At the start of the week, it didn’t look like it was going to be that

way.

Costa Mesa officials were leaning toward eliminating the national pastime

from the park and instead were going to make it a haven for America’s

favorite after-work sport -- softball.

That made sense, most cynics would say. Dollars and cents.

Even though the four diamonds at TeWinkle were originally designed for

baseball, softball had taken root there over the years as the grounds

deteriorated.

It’s no secret that the city’s recreation department makes much more

money on softball than it does on youth baseball. Softball team members,

who pay hefty recreation fees, took over.

And, it was alleged, the recreation department at the city purposefully

allowed the baseball fields at TeWinkle to fall apart for that very

reason.

We don’t necessarily subscribe to such conspiracy theories, but we are

sure about one thing: youth sports should not be sacrificed for the sake

of adult recreation -- ever.

Youth sports, whether it be baseball, football, soccer, swimming or

tennis, is important to the very fabric of our community. They teach

children camaraderie, teamwork and discipline, and most of all, gives

them a constructive activity at a time in their lives when peer pressure

to engage in other, less constructive activities is great.

So it was disappointing to hear that city officials were considering

plans to make TeWinkle a softball-only park, leaving youth baseball in

the dust, literally.

Thankfully, some youth baseball proponents were able to convince city

officials to scrap those original plans. The city has agreed to make one

of the four fields a baseball diamond.

Costa Mesa officials did the right thing by giving youth sports -- and

baseball -- the priority they deserve.

It’s a hit that really should be heard ‘round the world.