SOMERS - Vito Andriano played baseball on blacktop and concrete when he lived in the Bronx as a kid. When the family moved to Somers in 1972, he got his first taste of organized baseball on the field at Reis Park.
After nearly 40 years Andriano, who coaches baseball in his spare time, is paying back the town of Somers -- and Reis Park in particular -- for the joy it gave him at the age of 11.
Andriano is responsible for the construction of two new batting cages close to the baseball field at the park. The cages officially opened around May 15, though there is still a little finish-up work to be done.
The idea came to him when he arrived at the park a few years ago with a group of eager kids. "There was a father and son practicing ball but they walked off to make room for us. It bothered me," he said. He felt he had usurped their space -- and their father-son time together.
Two years ago he approached the Parks and Recreation Commission with the idea of batting cages. Andriano had studied architecture at New York Tech, so he designed the area himself. The commission approved the idea, as did the planning board. Then it was just a matter of fundraising.
Andriano estimates that labor and materials for the project would have come to about $80,000, but he and his friends, employees and volunteers, did most of the labor themselves. The materials were paid for by donations.
The site of the batting cages is perfect, said Andriano, "because it is close to the dugout field. We can do live hitting, pitching and soft-toss in the cages. That means we can practice offensive playing in the cages while the other kids practice defensive on the field. It used to be that a few kids got to play while the others sat around and watched. Now we get to practice 100 times more than before."
Andriano added that about 20% of the time the cages are used by individuals. One morning about 7 a.m. he ran into "a guy around 45, with his son, around 7. The man said, 'We come here first thing in the morning and we don't have to chase balls. And then I take my kid to school afterwards.'"
"That's exactly what I built it for," said Adriano. "For fathers and sons to spend time together."
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