SANDPOINT — The sound of bats cracking is set to return to Travers Park next month, as construction has begun on new batting cages behind the James E. Russell Sports Center.

The new cages will be at the same spot as the old batting cages, which were torn down during the center’s construction. It will feature two 70-feet long lanes, around 20 feet longer than the old cages, according to Jason Welker, Sandpoint’s Community Planning and Development director.

"We wanted to do it right,” Welker said. “It’ll have 70 feet by 24 feet of artificial turf to provide that nice authentic grasslike surface. They’re not the old chain link fences ... it’s a pull system that hoists up the net to create batting tunnels.”

The new batting cages should be complete by fall, in about a month, and will be free

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