Inside the Park batting cages becoming a hotspot for SouthCoast baseball and softball
NEW BEDFORD — An old-school approach meets new-age technology at Inside the Park batting cages in the city’s South End.
As former coaches, co-owners Jeff Antil and Matt Riley know that the key to success in sports is through hard work.
But the Fairhaven residents also understand there are tools needed to aid a player’s development.
“Matt and I are the old dogs,” Antil said. “Matt (Ponte) and Sean (Riley) advised us that if we wanted to be a step ahead over everybody else, we need to get some new technology and the best technology that is out there.”
In addition to 11 batting cages and an area for fielding in the 11,200 square foot space at 114 Conway Street, Inside the Park offers aspiring baseball and softball players an opportunity to work with a state-of-art HitTrax machine.
“The HitTrax can be used for everything,” Antil said. “It can be used for baseball and it can be used for softball. The dynamics of that is it's a phenomenal tracking and data analysis machine so that if Matt (Ponte) brings one of his kids in there and hits with them for 15 minutes, it tracks every swing the kid makes in the cages. Matt can demonstrate the good and bad about the kid’s swing.”
Matt Ponte, an instructor at Inside the Park, added, “There is nothing really like that that I’ve used before over the last 20 years of coaching. The kids like it because every swing they can see how far they hit the ball. It’s really accurate.”
The equipment tracks every part of a player’s swing.
“It shows you where you are hitting the ball and where your strength is hitting the ball,” Ponte said. “From there, you can analyze the swing and tell the hitter where he’s struggling and where he is actually doing the right thing. It tells an accurate story about all of their hitting.”
Players of all skill levels can benefit from working with HitTrax.
“A young kid’s main goal is to hit it further. That’s all they care about,” Ponte said. “I tell them this is the way you hit it further. Here’s how you do it.
“The parents are out here watching it and they love to see it as well.”
Ponte, who played baseball at Wheaton College, said it’s also become a great college recruiting tool.
“One of the things I like about it the most, especially with high school aged kids, is you can get a video on there and you can save the video to your own account,” Ponte said. “That is the type of thing you can send to college coaches when it comes to recruiting. That’s what everybody does now.
“College coaches probably get 30 or 40 of them a day from high school players and they’ll look at them and if they see a kid’s swing, exit velocity and hit it far, then they’ll follow up.”
HOW DID INSIDE THE PARK END UP IN NEW BEDFORD?
When Inside the Park’s former home — the mill on Plymouth Avenue in Fall River — decided to transform into a storage area, Matt Riley was forced to look for another location.
It just so happened that Antil was thinking of opening some batting cages himself and there was a need in Greater New Bedford with the closure of Lumberyard and True Swing.
“Matt and Sean had a place in Fall River and I had been looking to go out and find a place on my own, but Matt and I have been friends for a long time,” Antil said. “All the cards fell onto the table. Someone took over his building and made storage over there. He called me up and next thing you know, we’re partnering up and looking for a piece of property.”
They found the perfect spot just off Route 18 in the former Mill Store building.
“If we’re going to move, let’s move to a place where we’ll have an area to do some infield,” Riley said. “Kids can have an infield practice in here. We have two large areas.”
Since opening on July 7, Inside the Park has become a hotspot for baseball and softball on the SouthCoast as it offers everything from open cages and fielding space to instruction on pitching and hitting.
“I want parents to feel comfortable with the idea that you don’t have to have all the answers for your kids,” Riley said. “You just have to know where to get them. When it comes to baseball and softball, we feel like we can help answer those questions for your child. We want them to have a positive and high quality experience when they come to see us.”
Not only can athletes rent cages to work on their own, they can purchase six or 12-month memberships, or instruction packages.
“Whatever the player and parent are looking for, we can provide,” Riley said. “There’s a huge spectrum we offer.
“Rental membership allows a parent to buy his son or daughter one hour a week of cage time. They can do either hitting, pitching or ground balls. It’s half of what you would pay if you can come in once a week for 26 weeks.”
Inside the Park has 10 instructors on staff with several having experience playing in college.
“There are a variety of options a player can choose from,” Riley said. “If they want to learn how to pitch, we have certain people who are teaching pitching lessons.”
“If you’re 13, 14 or 15 and you’re coming here to get extra work, that is probably your goal to play in high school and even further to play in college,” Ponte said. “With most of us having that experience of playing in college, that’s things we can help them with. Not only with the recruiting process but also how hard you need to work to get to that next level. It’s not easy to do.”
LABOR OF LOVE FOR ANTIL AND RILEY
As Antil and Riley talk about their hopes for the future of baseball and softball on the SouthCoast and the role they intend Inside the Park will have, neither one can stop glowing.
“It’s nice when your job is something you really enjoy doing,” said Riley, a retired elementary school principal who now gets to work with his son, Sean Riley.
“I come in here every single day and I have a blast with what I’m doing,” said Antil, who works ful-time in sales for Northern Wind Seafood. “I’m passionate. I love to see the looks on the kids’ faces.”
It’s also a family affair for Antil, who gets to work alongside his son-in-law, Matt Ponte.
“I sent a quick selfie to my daughter,” he said. “Here is Matt in one cage teaching pitching and here I am in the second cage teaching hitting. This is the best.”
MEET THE INSTRUCTORS
SEAN RILEY: Riley achieved All-American honors as well as All New England honors playing second base for Bridgewater State University. During his junior year, he was named the MASCAC Baseball Player of the Year.
MATT PONTE: Ponte played four years at Wheaton College. During his senior season, he was named first team All New England. Ponte has also coached five years of baseball at Roger Williams University and Bryant University.
JARED EVANS: Evans has been giving private and group instruction for more than 15 years. He was an assistant head baseball coach at Dean College for two years, then spent two years at Scottsdale Community and recently worked three seasons as an area scout for the New York Mets.
FRANK VILACHA: Vilacha pitched four years at West Haven University. He finished top 10 in appearances. He pitched two years for the New Bedford Bay Sox and played overseas in Australia and Belgium and finished as MVP playing third base and pitching.
RYAN BALDWIN: Baldwin played four years at Div. II Barry University, achieving All-American status as well as being named NCBWA All-South Region twice. He is also the schools’ all-time leader in home runs with 33.
BRAYDEN VENTURA: Ventura was a four-year varsity starting catcher at Case and a two-time South Coast Conference All-Star. He is currently the starting catcher at Roger Williams University.
ELYSE TAVARES: Tavares was a four-year varsity player at Fairhaven High, earning Boston Globe and Boston Herald All-Scholastic and Standard-Times Super Team honors. She was the runner-up for the SCC Player of the Year. Tavares played at Div. II Caldwell University. She provides hitting and catching instruction.
COURTNEY GIROUARD: Girouard was a four-year starter at Fairhaven High. She earned Boston Herald All-Scholastic honors two years in a row as a pitcher. She has been coaching Fairhaven softball since 2018 and has been providing pitching and hitting lessons the last four years.
ASHLEY AMBROSE: Ambrose pitched four years at GNB Voc-Tech. Her passion has led her to coach rec and travel softball. She has been providing pitching lessons since 2011.
ALEX ANDRADE TRIPP: Tripp was a four-year starter at Bishop Stang who went on to play four years at Elmira College, where she earned All-Conference honors in 2012 and 2013. She is the varsity coach at Bishop Stang and has been providing pitching and hitting lessons since 2012.
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Inside the Park batting cages opened in New Bedford in 2022
