| Indoor batting facility comes out swinging it’s batter against machine at North Van’s new Home Run Batting Centre TIRED OF fooking out rain-streaked windows in hopes of a break in the weather to play a little ball? By A.P. McCredie sports Reporter The Home Run Batting Centre opened for business on Apri! 10, and already a number of North Shore residents have found solace within the netting of the North Vancouver business. The company — owned by 25- year-old) Chris Rerup and 29- year-old) Paul Smith — is a baseball equipment wholesaler to baseball and = softball teams throughout the Lower Maintand. In addition, the 306 Kennard Avenue facility is home to the North Shore’s only indoor batting cages. Turning a hollow shell of a warehouse into a two-lane batting centre needed a little ingenuity, but Rerup and Smith pulled it of f. “We just bought some fishing net and strung it around fastened roped to make the two cages,” said Rerup. The = state-of-the-art pitching machines are capable of throwing from slow to- high-speed pitches —~ in excess of 100 mph (160 kph) — and can throw as mean a curve ball low and away as any major- league pitcher. Only the machine can do it consistently. A number of settings on the machine will give the ball most kinds of movements seen in a_ real-life scenario, One of the two machines is devoted solely to softball, while the other can throw both softball and hardball settings. The balls NEWS photo Nell Lucente THE HOME Run Batting Centre offers Walter Mitty excursions into staring down a big-league pitcher and taking your best shot. The North Vancouver business has two indoor batting cages — both hardball and softball — for players to sharpen their skills during the rainy weather, or for just a fun half-hour of sandlot dreaming. are made of durable rubber, and are as close to real leather-bound balls — in both weight and size — as possible. “*So far we’ve attracted a lot of players looking to get back into shape for the softball season,” said Smith. A good part of the business the Can you say, ° I HAVE not had the opportunity of meeting relatively new PNE general manager Jim Kemplisig, but already I admire the man’s spuak. No sooner did our May 5 col- umn trashing the PNE for its ar- chaic system of selling beer at Canucks’ games hit the sireet, than Kempling went into action. Here’s what the man had to say, in written form: “The ‘good ol’ PNE’ has been struggling mig!-tily for the past several months to get a fair hear- ing for its case to provide hockey fans with something better than ‘the dreary designated areas in the bowels of the Coliseum’ to enjoy a beer. We, too, would like our patrons to enjoy the simple and civilized opportunity to have a beer in their seat. “We have been vigorously op- posed in this endeavor by the Vancouver Canucks and city hail. The argument that every other stadium in the city and every other major sport — and almost — every NHL arena — enjoys this sim- ple privilege carries no weight at all. The essence of the city hall case is BC Place Stadium has more incidents with impaired fans at a football game than we have at hockey games, therefore we shouldn’t allow beer in the seats at hockey because ‘everyone knows’ that hockey fans are a nasty lot. “No research, mind you ... no facts, not even a hearing. | enclose the relevant material for GOAL LINES your reading interest not because I think the North Shore News will have the slightest impact on Van- couver City Council or the Canucks, but it might help you be a bit more careful in selecting the target next time you lash out at obvious injustice and muddled thinking in public circles.” With that off his chest, Mr. Kempling enclosed 20 pages of correspondence that has been ex- changed between the PNE and ci- ty hall dating back to Dec. 15, 1992, It becomes abundantly clear the PNE has tried desperately to gain entrepreneurs hope to snag is team-oriented sessions. The centre offers a 15% discount for team bookings, though you can only book ahead one week in advance. The price for the minimum half- hour session is $15 (two to three players). Another innovative element of e OCTISY ”? © permission to expand its licensed areas. : Mr. Kempling supports his stance about being ‘‘vigorously opposed by the Vancouver Canucks” with the inclusion of a letter from Canucks’ + ice-presi- dent and director of marketing and communications, Glen Ringdal. The Canucks’ front office worker with the longest title in the NHL wrote a fan in March who had complained about beer con- sumption in the Coliseum. Ringdal’s letter, in part, reads: “Your views echo those of the Vancouver Hockey Club exactly. J am sorry to hear of your unfortu- nate experience at one of our games. It is situations like these that would only become more frequent if beer was allowed in the “ stands. City council has rejected the PNE request unanimously. “Hopefully, this will put the issue to rest as long as we are te- nants in the Coliseum.”’ But of course. Why would the Canucks give a damn about beer sales at the Coliseum when the hockey club’s piece of the action is diddly-squat? Ringdal, no doubt, will be dramatically changing his tune when the Canucks set up shop in their new downtown digs and beer sales become a large part of their food and beverage revenues as operators of the own building. Can you say, “‘hypocrisy’’? I knew you could. the centre’s business is a_ six- month membership program which includes: 5'%-hour cage sessions; unlimited use of the T- ball stations; booking priority; a Home Run Batting Centre T-shirt and 10% discount on _ clinics/ competitions and batting. Since the company is mostly a wholesaler, they offer an array of bats that you can demo in one of the batting cages. So, the next time you’re itching to take a few cuts, but the weather isn’t cooperating, head down to the Home Run Batting Centre. BEWS photo Paul McGrath MARK DAVIES is a study in concentration during his 100- metre race at a recent Special Olympics Qualifying meet at West Vancouver Secondary. The tap competitors at the two-day event qualified for the B.C. Special Olympics on July 9-12 in Coquitlam, B.C.