Big day Sunday as Orange County Great Park Baseball Stadium opens

There are lots of soccer fields at the Orange County Great Park but on Sunday, the new baseball stadium will open up.

It’s shaping up to be a pretty special day on Sunday at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine.

There will be plenty of soccer games going on we’re told.

But the focus of attention will be the ribbon cutting ceremonies of the new 1,200-seat baseball stadium.

Games involving six Irvine teams and two Tustin teams begin at 10 a.m. and the ceremony involving officials from the City of Irvine, the Great Park and Five Point, will take place at 1 p.m.

So, the city of Irvine will open up what could be the best stadium in the city (we can’t forget UC Irvine’s on-campus stadium) and one that Dick Owens of the Ryan Lemmon Foundation calls “similar to a minor league stadium.”

We’ve seen the pictures and we trust what he says.

The park will be great for the city of Irvine. It will bring in tax dollars because teams will rent the park to use.

Owens said there is a signficant list of teams who have indicated an interest in renting the facility.

“A representative from Cypress College was there today and he’s looking to pitch it for the JC championships a year or two from now,” Owens said. “And the GSAC Conference (Golden State Athletic Conference) is looking at holding it for their conference championships.”

Look for most of the Irvine and Tustin high school teams to continue to play on their home fields. All of them are high quality fields and undoubtedly coaches prefer having home games on their own field. In addition, in these days of tight budgets for athletic programs, it’s not likely schools would approve additional funds to rent the stadium.

The second best stadium in the city of Irvine for high schools will probably now be Ryan Lemmon Stadium, which is where Woodbridge plays its home games.

Ryan Lemmon Stadium is still a very good ball park and great for fans and a great place for families. And, you can throw your peanut shells on the ground. Not sure that will apply to the Great Park Stadium.

We will find out Sunday.

BIG MATCH-UP AT SANTA ANA TONIGHT

There’s an intriguing football match-up tonight at Santa Ana Valley between Santa Ana, which is ranked 10th in Division 8 and Woodbridge.

Both teams are 2-2.

Santa Ana, at one point in the season, was ranked first and Woodbridge second. Since then, Woodbridge has fallen out of the top 10, but the Warriors are still a team to be reckoned with in the division.

It should be an entertaining, close game between two excellent teams.

We wonder what the crowd will be for this one. Thursday night games aren’t usually big draws, but this one could be the exception.

SEGERSTROM COUNTING ON SOPHOMORE QB

Segerstrom’s football team is 3-1 entering Friday night’s game with Laguna Hills at Segerstrom. The Jaguars are looking for another big game from sophomore quarterback Angel Vega.

Vega led the way offensively for the Jaguars in a 29-7 victory over Troy last night, throwing three touchdown passes and passing for 178 yards.

“He’s only a sophomore, he’s learning our system and how to be a varsity quarterback,” said Segerstrom Coach Joseph Tagaloa. “He makes plays because of his athleticism and he’s solid. He’s playing as well as any quarterback I could as of at this time. He’s a leader. The players respect him and want him to lead the team.”