Youth-training center in Corona evokes ballpark atmosphere

David Hedgpeth and his wife, Alexis, have created a baseball-softball training facility in Corona with ambience.

They painted the walls of the 17,250-square-foot building green and blue with a yellow stripe to simulate a ballpark's outfield fence and the sky.

"It gives it more of a sports feeling and not just a warehouse ... with pitching machines," said Hedgpeth. "It's trying to give a lasting feeling on kids. When they get older, they will remember this."

Hedgpeth recalls well the time he wasted at Rancho Alamitos and Paramount high schools in the late 1970s when he did not pursue the opportunities he had to play baseball. Now 49, he is determined to help young people.

"I love baseball," said Hedgpeth. "I love teaching kids how to play the game. It keeps them out of trouble. It's one way to keep them from taking the path I took."

When Corona Cages opens at 1148 California Ave. in January, Hedgpeth said he and his wife will have invested about $300,000 they borrowed against their Norco home.

"He has dreamt of having this business for a long time," Alexis Hedgpeth said. "He must have researched it for five years before finding how to do it. Baseball has been a big passion of his."
Ron Smith, who operated Balls and Strikes batting cages in Corona for five years until closing it in 1999, said the Hedgpeths have a good chance to succeed. "He's put a lot of money into it," Smith said. "He's doing it the right way. He's got everything on the Internet. We did OK until they raised the rent."

Smith said Hedgpeth has been committed to youth baseball for a long time. "He's very meticulous as far as doing fundamentals," Smith said. "He gets along with kids very well. He doesn't holler and scream. He tells them when they do wrong."

The Hedgpeths covered the floors of the facility with artificial turf. There is a no-gum and sunflower-seed rule so that the turf is not spoiled. They built rooms for youth sports groups to hold meetings. They also have a room for parents to relax while their children practice.

There are Internet connections for children to do homework while their siblings are practicing or they are waiting to take their turn hitting at a pitching machine.

Fencing and curtains divide the main area into 18 stations for hitting, pitching and fielding practice. "Anything that is physical gives the kids something to focus on, something to occupy their time and less time to get involve in things they shouldn't," Alexis Hedgpeth said.