Batting cage access may be restricted over safety concerns

By Ian MacKay

The batting cage at the sports grounds could be closed to the public when organized teams are not using it, town council heard April 20.

Councillors discussed whether the cage and its pitching machines should be secured, with concerns raised about both safety and potential theft.

A suggestion that the batting cages at the sports grounds should be locked up due to potential theft or injury caused staff to get an opinion from the town’s insurance company. Pitching machines were nowhere to be seen on Friday afternoon. Photo by Ian MacKay

Recreation director Kelli Emmons said she had contacted the town’s insurance provider for guidance.

Although the town owns the sports grounds, staff do not supervise the batting cage, Emmons said. The concern is that while many young ball players know how to operate the pitching machines, someone unfamiliar with the equipment could cause an injury.

“If anything’s going to fall back on anybody, it’s going to fall back on” the town in the event of an incident, Emmons said.

“Because we have the insurance on it,” Mayor Trevor Hay replied.

Acting chief administrative officer Amanda Bors said the insurer had only recently been consulted.

“We’d prefer it to be locked, basically, for safety,” Emmons said. “As soon as somebody says something about safety or somebody getting hurt, I think we basically have to.”

Options under consideration include installing a coded lock or a system that can be accessed through a mobile app.

Such a system would allow entry only to authorized users and track who accesses the cage, Hay said.

Emmons said she would review options but expects the insurer will recommend keeping the batting cage locked.