Baseball treat for members of media

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MEDIA members were given the chance to bat a fast ball travelling at 64km an hour at the media preview at 1 Utama Shopping centre (New Wing) recently.  

The event was held to let the media get a feel of baseball and also in anticipation of the opening of 1 Utama's It's A Hit batting cage in June.  

It will be Malaysia’s first baseball and softball batting cage. 

Galaxie editor Punitha Yogaratnam tries her hands at batting.

To be located on the rooftop of 1 Utama, there will be eight batting cages with throwing machines that pitch balls at speeds up to 160km per hour, which is about equal pitching speed of some professionals. 

It’s a Hit will be owned and managed by Jolt Sports. 

Hitachi Sales Malaysia Sdn Bhd will be the sponsor and it will be supported by Mizuno and AXN. 

Freebairn...RM5 fee reasonably cheap comparedto Japan and the US.

During the preview, Hitachi managing director Shigeharu Annaka, who was a former baseball league player in Japan, demonstrated some batting techniques.  

Jolt Sports general manager Tim Freebairn said he had received many enquiries from baseball enthusiasts.  

“To promote the game, we will charge customers RM5 to hit 20 balls, which is reasonably cheap compared to Japan and the United States. 

“With our batting cages, we hope that baseball and softball will become a popular sports among Malaysians,’’ he said.