New batting cage takes M-A softball practice up a notch New batting cage takes M-A softball practice up a notch (April 13, 2005)

Girls on the softball team at Menlo-Atherton High School have a new piece of gear to improve their performance at the plate: a batting cage.

The cage -- a tunnel of chain-link fence and netting -- accommodates two players at once: one taking pitches from a pitching machine and the other free to tee up balls on a batting tee.

Of the $25,000 needed to purchase and install the cage, about $5,000 came from the Sequoia Union High School District budget, with the rest donated, said M-A parent Melanie Chladek, who provided a list of donors.

The donors include the Avery family, Terri and Henry Bullock, the Dovebid auction house, Freestone Properties, the Kiwanis Club Foundation of Menlo Park, Jean and Bill Lane, Joan and Mel Lane, Shirley and Duncan Matteson, the Morgan Family Foundation, the Sand Hill Foundation, Tyco Electronics, the Wells Fargo Foundation, and the families and friends of M-A softball.

For more information, go to M-Aboosters.org, and check under Spring Sports.

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