Freedom Park is a mark of Camarillo's rising sportsprofile.

The park near the Camarillo Airport has been remade into five baseball fields, all with lights, including Veterans Field, a full-size field. The latest upgrades come after the opening of the 55-acre Pleasant Valley Fields to soccer leagues and tournaments in January2010.

To celebrate the completion of the new baseball fields, the Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District will hold a grand opening at Veterans Field at Freedom Park onFeb.2.

The fields have only been used on a try-out basis during a recent tournament by Pony Baseball players. Park district officials stood by to see how play went and how the fields heldup.

The renovation took nearly a year, though planning has been in the works for more than a decade, according to Daryl Wagar, superintendent of parks for thedistrict,

(View the Freedom Park: Camarillo diamonds slide show.)

"The park was designed around Camarillo Pony Baseball League's specifications," Wagar said. "Veterans Field is the only full-sized lit baseball field in Camarillo and maybe in VenturaCounty."

The five fields were created by eliminating the three original softball fields, which had been part of the former Oxnard Air Force Base, and creating two more fields from grassy open space, according toWagar.

The Camarillo Pony Baseball League donated about $180,000 to the district, covering about 10 percent of the cost ofrenovation.

The overall construction costs added up to just over $1.8 million, including change orders, according to park district General Manager DanLaBrado.

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Freedom to play ball: Camarillo park adds diamonds