Fast balls all round for Beaches’ baseballers

Baseballers will certainly be able to hit and run at the brand new, state-of-the-art, batting cages at Rat Park, recently completed by Council.

The cages complement the five upgraded baseball diamonds and backstops at that facility which is now the premier destination for baseball in the area. The five fields are part of  26 others across the Beaches that host the area’s 800 registered participants.

USA Major League Baseball Hall of Famer, Manny Ramirez, and New York Yankees Hitting Coach, Rachel Balkovec are in town this month to host hitting clinics for juniors and will test the facilities with players and officials from Pittwater Baseball.

“We’ve been planning and petitioning for batting cages and upgraded facilities for a long time,” said Pittwater Baseball President, Mark Lowe.

“We are so happy with the way Council worked with us in the planning and design of the facility and also how they accommodated our competitions so we could play through the construction with a minimum of disruption.”

The $432,000 upgrade includes two batting cages, four new backstop fences each including home and away dugouts and official bunkers in addition to the refurbishment of the Senior field and backstop, further field upgrades, and returfing. The upgrade was required due to the facility reaching its end of life with ongoing maintenance and safety issues.

Council expects the new facility to be well used and continue to grow the game on the Northern Beaches.