St. Frances dedicates batting cage gift from Adenhart Foundation
A foundation set up in the memory of late Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart has made it possible for St. Frances Academy to open its own batting cage, which will be named for Adenhart on Saturday. (Kevin Sullivan/McClatchy-Tribune)
When St. Frances Academy won the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association C Conference baseball championship in 2009, coach Brian Boles was impressed by what a difference a batting cage could make.
"As we went through the playoffs, I took my team to another school before each game to use their batting cage," Boles said. "It made such a difference to get those quality reps in, and I made a vow to myself to get one for St. Frances, even if I had to pay for it myself."
As it happened, Boles didn’t have to pay for it. Instead, the batting cage came as a gift from the Nick Adenhart Memorial Foundation.
The cage has been in used since the spring of 2010, but it will be officially dedicated Saturday as the Nick Adenhart Memorial Batting Cage.
The ceremony will be held at noon near the gymnasium parking lot at St. Frances. Players and other representatives from the Los Angeles Angels players, who will be facing the Orioles here this weekend, are expected to attend.
Over several years before and after that 2009 championship season there had been promises of donations for a cage, but all of them fell through -- until Jerry Wargo, a scout for the Angels and the coach at the Southern Maryland Baseball Camp, put Boles in touch with the Adenhart family.
Adenhart, a Maryland native who graduated from Williamsport High School, was played for the Angels before he was killed at the age of 22 in an April 2009 auto accident when he was hit by a drunk driver.
After his death, Adenhart's family founded the Nick Adenhart Memorial Foundation, which helps provide financial support to youth baseball organizations. When they heard from Boles, they told him it was something they could help him with.
"In the spring of 2010 the Foundation sent us a check for $3,000," Boles said. "And we built the cage. It has been a blessing to receive that donation."
Boles said the cage allows him to be a better coach and allows his players to have quality workouts.
"Over the last two seasons we lost a lot of players from our championship team," he said. "Last season we were 6-15. Without that batting cage we might not have won a game. It helped out tremendously."
