Stepping up to the plate

Baseball

academy launched

at The Hab

By PAUL R. DUBOIS

Breeze Sports Editor

pdubois@valleybreeze.com

UXBRIDGE - Facing declining enrollment, officials at The Hab indoor athletic facility have introduced a new baseball/softball hitting instruction program they believe is unlike any other.

Director Chris Reding said batting cages and pitching areas have been constructed, and The Hab has hooked up with Hitting Connection, a certified professional batting instruction program.

"We wanted to diversify and decided to bring in the baseball academy, and we wanted the highest level of instruction possible, so we reached out to Hitting Connection," said Reding.

Ray McDonald and Dan Sheehan, long-time baseball coaches, own Hitting Connection and serve as instructors at The Hab.

The program features the batting philosophy of former Major Leaguer Mike Epstein, and both men have earned professional certification.

More than 100 boys and girls have already enrolled in the clinic, which offers both individual and group instruction.

Videotaping is used at the beginning of every client's training, and continues as instruction is provided. "That way, a player can compare what their swing is to what it used to be and they can see the improvement," said Sheehan.

McDonald, who coached at Northern Essex Community College and Bunker Hill Community College, said the batting philosophy employed by Hitting Connection has already proven itself.

"The first year that I brought this hitting style to Essex, we hit .413 as a team and won the national batting title, and only once after that were we ranked out of the top five in batting average," said McDonald. "Then I moved to Bunker Hill, which had a losing program, in our first year, we were 28-90 and won a championship."

Reding acknowledged that The Hab has been primarily an indoor soccer facility during its 10 years in existence and that the building of other indoor athletic complexes has slowed business, forcing the diversification into the baseball academy.

"I think we've begun to fill the void nicely," he said. "I really believe that with Ray and Dan, we're able to offer the highest level of professional hitting instruction in Central Massachusetts."

Their program concentrates on creating short, compact swings for players, rather than longer swinging styles. The program, McDonald and Sheehan said, works just as effectively for softball as it does for baseball.

"We tell our students to keep their hands back and swing level with the plane of the ball," said Sheehan. "If batters stay inside the ball, they give themselves a better opportunity to hit it squarely, which is what you want."

McDonald said it only takes about an hour to convert a bad baseball/softball swing into an effective one.

While the academy stresses batting, it is full service and also provides speed and agility training and pitching instruction for both baseball and softball.

Reding is the softball coach at Whitinsville Christian School, and Sheehan is president of the Douglas Youth Baseball League and has coached at various levels for several years.

Reding said that summer baseball camps are already being planned on The Hab's new multi-purpose outdoor field. The field will have portable mounds and can accommodate any age group from Little League to high school, Reding said.

There is a Little Sluggers program that Reding operates for those 4 and 5 years of age. That program is to teach the basics of the game. The Hitting Connection instruction is offered to players 9 and older.

Looking ahead, Reding said that plans call for The Hab to have its own AAU travel baseball and fast pitch softball teams next year, and participants will be offered full service workouts.

"It's amazing how fast this program is growing," said Reding. "I understand it. There was a need. As a parent and coach, I was frustrated at the lack of professional instruction that was available. We like to think that we are giving people the most for their money."