Joint effort aims to revitalize 'Duck Park'
By Eliav Appelbaum eliav@theacorn.com

When one plan doesn't pan out, another one is often right around the corner. Or down the street.

The softball fields at Rancho Simi Community Park, nicknamed "Duck Park," on Royal Avenue will be completely refurbished and sheltered with fences in a project coordinated by the Amanda McPherson Foundation, Simi Valley Unified School District and Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District.

Phil McPherson, the president and founder of the Amanda Foundation, said the softball complex will resemble Camden Yards, the home stadium of Major League Baseball's Baltimore Orioles. The bathrooms and snack bar will also be renovated, and a storage room for equipment will be added. The $500,000 project will also include the construction of 100 parking spaces and a new soccer field with permanent light fixtures.

"It'll be a beautiful project when it's all done," said school board president Janice DiFatta.

Originally, the intent of the project was to build two California Interscholastic Federationregulated softball diamonds on Royal High School's campus because the Highlanders currently play home games at Rancho Simi Park. The school board voted in favor of the project on March 13, but too many roadblocks came up along the way.

"Because of the cost, it didn't make sense to build it on campus. And the land isn't available. We would have been taking away fields from P.E.," McPherson said. "What we're doing now totally makes sense."

The park district has had plans to renovate Rancho Simi Park for some time, but the McPherson Foundation gave the endeavor a jump-start by uniting several groups and gaining support from the City Council, softball boosters and other community leaders.

"Without all these partnerships, it wouldn't get done," McPherson said. "That's the cool thing about this project."

The school district is contributing $150,000 and the McPherson Foundation will try to match that figure. The foundation has already kicked in $50,000 for the Rancho Simi Park project. McPherson hopes the park will open in about a year.

In March, the foundation raised $300,000 for the Big Sky Park, the new home of the Simi Valley Girls' Softball League for youth players.

Although the proposed softball facility will be gated, safety is a major concern at the Rancho Simi Park site, which attracts homeless people. The Simi Valley High softball team also plays its home games off campus, but McPherson felt he needed to start with renovating Royal's facilities, in part because of those safety issues.

The new fields will be an important addition to the community, according to former Simi Valley High softball player and youth sports advocate Gina Gooding.

"We didn't have home fields and that kind of bothered me back then," said the 1986 Simi High graduate, who's helping to run a fundraising dinner for the Royal High softball team tonight at Lost Canyons Golf Club.

Gooding remains active in softball even though her own daughter doesn't play the sport. Tonight's fundraiser begins at 6:30 p.m., with dinner and casino tickets costing $100. Attendees may also choose to arrive at 7:15 p.m., pay $25 at the door and hear former UCLA softball head coach Sue Enquist speak.

The McPherson Foundation will host the fourth annual Amanda Walk and Carnival on Sunday, Oct. 7. For information on the family walk, call (805) 582-6188 or visit www.theamandamcpherson foundation.com.

McPherson and his wife, Mary, started the foundation in 2004 after the death of their 8-year-old daughter Amanda from the congenital illness velo-cardio-facial syndrome. It was Amanda's love of softball that inspired the McPhersons to help other girls in Simi Valley enjoy the game.

McPherson fought back tears describing how the foundation has been able to make an impact in the community, just as Amanda did in her short, courageous life. The McPherson Foundation has raised more than $1 million, with most of the donations channeled back into the community through the parks and Amanda's Corner in Simi Valley schools, which helps special needs students.

"It's the people that are around us that got us through the first couple of years," McPherson said. "It's the people of Simi Valley, it's friends of ours, it's our community and everybody that kept us going.

"It makes sense to put the money back into the local community so people see that it's working and see that we're doing something. We just think it's important for people to see it and feel it, that the money isn't just going to some organization that they're not seeing."