Batter Up! New City Little Leaguers Benefit from New Practice Area

If practice makes perfect, when it comes to Little League baseball and softball that means you need a place to get that practice.

New City Little League has that problem solved.

Young athletes in the league got a chance to practice their hitting skills this season at new batting cages NCLL built at its Strawtown Field complex on Strawtown Road in New City.

NCLL volunteer Ed Roth spearheaded the batting cage project, which began with determining the correct size for the cage and just how much the practice facility would cost.  Once the NCLL board of directors approved the project, Roth supervised the process of getting bids and getting construction started.

The cages took two weeks to build. The structure is 80 feet long and 16 feet wide, which, according to Roth, is very large for a batting cage.  It can be utilized as a single cage or separated into two smaller cages.  The cage is not equipped with a pitching machine - favoring the old fashion method of throwing a ball to a batter by hand.

"Live pitching is considered better for hitting practice nowadays," explained Roth, "because every pitch the batter sees is not a strike."

The cage has L-shaped screens in place to protect the pitchers from being hit by the batter as they throw a ball, so the batter is free to swing away without fear of injuring anyone.  The batter is protected as well, since the walls of the cage are made out of netting, which prevents the ball from bouncing back and hitting the batter.

The cages have been getting lots of use, with teams reserving times so everyone gets a shot at using them.

"To my knowledge," said Roth proudly, "this is the nicest cage in the area."