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BALLFIELDS, PICNICS & A BASEBALL LEGACY
You do not have to be on the softball roster to use Pedretti Park. Its playground, picnic areas and volleyball courts sit alongside five ballfields. For Turlock families, it can be a place to watch a game, give younger children something to do or gather under the covered picnic area.
2400 N. Tegner Road, Turlock · City picnic sheet and park layout · Recreation Division: (209) 668-5594
What is at Pedretti?
The city’s sports-field directory lists four softball fields and one baseball diamond. The wider park includes three grass volleyball courts, a playground, picnic areas, covered spectator bleachers and a concession stand, as described in the park directory.
A child who is not playing in the game can spend time at the playground; a family can have a picnic without renting a diamond. A baseball practice, tournament or organized softball game uses the field-booking system.
The city’s recent facilities inventory also lists restrooms, swings, benches, drinking fountains and parking lots. It identifies the playground’s intended user group as ages five to twelve.
Where Pedretti works well—and its limits
- A game and a playground in one outing. The park works well when siblings have different plans: one has a game, another needs playtime, and adults are watching from the bleachers.
- A covered place to gather. The rentable picnic area and covered bleachers provide shelter at specific spots, rather than leaving every part of a visit in open sun.
- Fields can be booked. A visible empty diamond may belong to a reservation. Use the field-availability page when planning a team practice.
- Party rules are specific. Pedretti does not allow bounce houses. That can decide whether it fits a child’s birthday plan before you pay for a rental.
- Sports shape the setting. This is a ballpark and picnic destination. For a pond and the wooden play park, choose Donnelly; for mature shade and tennis, compare Crane.
Picnic reservations: seats, barbecue grills and hours
The park-specific rental sheet lists 88 seats, eleven tables, three barbecue grills, two preparation tables and a portable toilet for the covered area. Other tables are first come, first served. Its listed resident covered-area rental rate is $92, under the fees effective September 1, 2025; use the booking page for the charge that applies to your reservation.
That same sheet gives general park hours of 6 a.m. to dusk and picnic-rental hours of 10 a.m. to dusk. Organized night games on the lighted fields have separate booking arrangements. The picnic rules prohibit bounce houses, personal barbecue grills, alcohol, tobacco and amplified music.
The city’s picnic-reservation page lists a March 1–October 31 reservation season. For a weekend gathering, the cutoff is the preceding Thursday; unreserved areas become first come, first served after 5 p.m. that day. The linked park sheet includes a layout showing the covered area, playground and restrooms, which is useful when telling guests where to meet.
A name from Turlock High baseball
Pedretti is named for Ezio “Atch” Pedretti, the longtime Turlock High School baseball coach. The city dates the park to 1977 and describes it as a community project.
Coach Mark de la Motte’s school history of Bulldog baseball records twenty-four seasons under Atch. His final season was 1981, and he died that fall. A few years later, the park named for him became a temporary home for the school’s team.
The reason was surprisingly ordinary: gophers had damaged the high-school field. The Bulldogs played their 1983 and 1984 seasons at Pedretti, and the lighted park made their first known home night games possible. They returned to the school field in 1985.
The family name has another familiar local connection. Latif’s own history identifies owner Nick Pedretti as Atch’s grandson. Read our Latif’s by Pedretti page for the diner’s story.
Volunteer work, league games and new lights
Former mayor Dale Pinkney was proud of the time he put into building the park. The Journal’s remembrance of Pinkney records more than a hundred volunteer hours and the park’s 1977 dedication.
The city’s March 2024 lighting announcement described new LED lights on all five ballfields, with aging wiring and a damaged pole foundation replaced as part of the work. It identified city league softball, Turlock Little League and Turlock Christian sports among the park’s users.
Booking a field or planning a family visit
For a practice, game or tournament, start with the sports-field rental information and available dates. Field preparation and lights can add charges; youth and adult programs also affect availability. The Recreation Division handles questions at (209) 668-5594, Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m., except holidays.
For a playground visit or a picnic alongside someone’s game, use directions to Pedretti Park. Families looking for another outing can compare kids’ activities in Turlock or the full parks guide.
