What’s 75 feet long, 10 feet wide and 12 feet high, made of net, and attracts children swinging sticks?

The new batting cage at South Whidbey Community Park. The cage is the brainchild of Eagle Scout and high school senior Michael Berry, who began building the permanent facility at South Whidbey Community Park about a year ago. He finished the cage in August, so now it’s time for kids to start swinging.

Berry, who is a varsity baseball player at the high school and was a South Whidbey Little League player for eight years, remembers batting practice always meant chasing balls around the field.

“I saw a real need for a batting cage for the young Little Leaguers coming up,” Berry said.

So he decided to fill that need by building the first and only permanent batting cage on South Whidbey.

As an Eagle Scout, Berry was expected to undertake a major project from start to finish. With help from his parents, Ken and Leslie Berry of Freeland, other Scouts who provided some of the labor on the cage, and members of the community, that project became a reality.

But it was Berry who carried the ball for the project. Once he had the idea for the cage, he had to come up with a design then collect the materials and actually install it.

“It was definitely a challenge. My leadership skills and my ability to organize a complex project, were put to the test,” Berry said.

Working with the community for donations was a new experience as well.

“There were some politics involved,” he said. “It was a good experience.”

After first getting permission from the South Whidbey Parks and Recreation District to build the batting cage, Berry had to get the materials together to start what was a small-scale construction project. Hanson’s Lumber donated posts and other wood materials needed for the cage, while Island Asphalt paved a hitting area for batters. Sebo’s donated steel piping and other odds and ends, and Chuck Hosmer donated the yards of net that created the four-sided enclosure. Ray Gabelein Jr. helped backfill the site to build a retaining wall, Nichols Brothers Boat builders gave Berry a heavy-duty cable to support the netting frame, and South Whidbey Little League and John Mock donated money, landscape bark and crushed rock.

The batting cage is open and ready for use, but Berry isn’t quite finished. He is going to build a storage area for the net to roll into during the winter months.

Batters of all ages may use the batting cage, which is open for use during normal park hours. Suzette Hart, director for the parks district, said batters wanting to use the cage should schedule the practices at the parks office. The only time the cage will not be available for use will be during wet weather, when the net will be put away.