Plainsboro kids may soon have a new winter activity. If construction goes according to plans, Plainsboro Little Leaguers will be able to step up to the plate — indoors.
The Cranbury-Plainsboro Little League got the go-ahead to build an indoor “training and player development facility” at Plainsboro Community Park, adjacent to the baseball fields, as the Township Committee voted in favor of site plans submitted. Plainsboro architecture firm Gittings Associates of Forrestal Road rendered the building’s design, which was custom-tailored to fit its park setting.
At the February 8 Committee meeting Business Administrator Robert Sheehan outlined the next steps in what has been a decade-long process. “The league’s architect will be working closely with the township’s code enforcement staff, and the process also includes the preparation of a lease with necessary conditions to memorialize the arrangements,” Sheehan said.
Tim Lockwood, president of the Cranbury-Plainsboro Little League, attended the meeting along with league operations chief Raymond Cella. It’s been a drawn-out process as Lockwood and Cella said CPLL has worked to raise money for the project over the past decade. The CPLL is currently in the process of finalizing the expected cost of the project, but Lockwood’s estimate is between $150,000 and $200,000.
“A big part of it will be paid for by the efforts of CPLL families. They started looking into it about eight years ago and have been raising money for it ever since,” Lockwood said.
Lockwood said CPLL must continue searching for sponsors to pay for the facility’s construction. CPLL’s next step will be an outreach program to attract Plainsboro businesses and corporations to pitch in funds, starting in the next one to two months.
“We’ve got 300 families involved in the league and a wide variety of contacts and professionals to approach through our various networks. It’s a matter of being able to talk to the right people to see if they can help us,” he said.
Lockwood identified Dan Wheeler, managing partner of Sitrof Technologies in Princeton, as a key contact — his company recently donated $5,000 to the project. Wheeler, who lives in Cranbury, was a coach in the Cranbury-Plainsboro Little League, where his son played for several years. Lockwood says that Wheeler wanted to take a more active role with CPLL’s development, and he reached out to Lockwood in December to say Sitrof could offer some financial support.
#b#Looks Matter#/b#. The facility will be 100 feet long by 70 feet wide. Its interior will feature a lobby, two equipment areas, and the main practice field, which will be an astroturf surface on top of gravel measuring 80 feet by 70 feet.
The building’s exterior was designed to fit in with the rest of the park. The metal siding and gutters will be forest green, doors will be white, and the roofing will be silver. Lockwood says that would allow the building to tie into the natural surroundings, which became a focus after thoughts from the township committee were heard roughly 18 months ago.
Originally CPLL had turned in a suggestion to the township committee for the facility to resemble ones in other towns such as Nottingham and Bordentown, which have mainly a large, nondescript metal building that Lockwood says “just serves the purpose.” The township was clear that such a design would not work for Plainsboro. He says the township asked CPLL to make sure that the colors and details, including windows, doors, and weather vanes, would be “esthetically pleasing” so the facility could complement the park’s overall beauty.
“The township was very specific in regards to esthetics. They wanted something that did not look like a warehouse and they wanted something that looked very pleasing to the eye. You don’t want something red or something that would just stand out. Green will match the color of the trees for the majority of the year until the leaves fall,” Lockwood said.
Sheehan says in the administration’s view the project is shaping up well.
“They were able to respond to our concerns, and I think the architect’s rendering is really quite fine. We wanted to share that with the committee before we take the next steps with them,” Sheehan said.
#b#Benefits to Kids#/b#. With the absence of an indoor training facility to use, Lockwood says Plainsboro little leaguers were at a slight disadvantage as many of the little leagues in CPLL’s district have indoor facilities, including West Windsor. That left Plainsboro kids with few options for baseball-specific training spots in the area.
“Up until two months ago there was Extra Innings in Cranbury, but it’s gone out of business. It was probably a 15-minute ride to get there and kids had to pay to get in. With this facility members of our Little League won’t have to do that, and in essence it’s right in our backyard. There’s a lot to do with it in the offseason as people will have the opportunity to work out in there,” Lockwood says.
“Pitchers typically pitch just the two to three months a year of a season, and when you go back nine months later and start pitching again you’ve lost some of the skills. Instead of having to start all over again kids can practice all year round,” he said.
Most importantly, Lockwood says the facility will keep baseball or softball-obsessed kids away from television.
The concept for a baseball infield inside the facility will help coaches develop players’ infielding (defensive) abilities and simulate hits that go between the bases and down the lines.
The facility will offer a unique hybrid with traditional batting cages as well. Players can practice their hitting before or after working on infield skills.
“There will be a netting system inside where we’ll be able to set up between four and five tunnels for hitting, so at any one time we could have four or five kids there practicing while others do drills. When you pull the nets away it will be a full infield,” Lockwood said.
The field will be made of a material similar to astroturf, and children will wear sneakers and not their usual baseball cleats. A CPLL board member will most likely be put in charge of the building’s maintenance. Cleaning up after practices will be voluntary for coaches and players.
The CPLL has not decided the hours of operation. Lockwood says ideally parents will drop children off for hour-long workouts, perhaps once a week during the off-season. The CPLL is working with the township to see if there can be an area where parents and others can sit and watch practice sessions, but a crowd could not gather because “the facility is designed for no more than 12 people.”
The Lockwoods have put down roots in the community and CPLL since “Coach Tim” and his wife Maria, a pharmacist, moved to Plainsboro 13 years ago. Their oldest son, Jeremy, graduated from the CPLL ranks last season while their two younger children are active players. Ten-year-old Justin, a student at Millstone River School, plays baseball while his 8-year-old sister Jillian, who attends Wycoff Elementary, plays softball.
Lockwood grew up playing baseball in Owego, New York, half-an-hour southeast of Ithaca. His father was a high school principal, and his mother was a homemaker.
Lockwood played baseball through his high school years and went on to attend Cornell University, where he earned a B.A. in Economics. He currently works as a manager at Wegmans in Woodbridge.
At the February 8 meeting, committee member Narun Nabi joked with Deputy Mayor Neil Lewis and Lockwood that he would be overseeing construction of the facility because he lives just around the corner from the site. Lockwood smiled and promised that construction crews would keep the noise down. Once it opens there shouldn’t be large crowds and an abundance of noise either, just plenty of smiles for the community’s parents and kids.
