Homemade Pitching Cage for Indoors

[Softball Lovin Mom]

I just found this forum the other day, and I've really enjoyed reading the threads. There's a TON of information on here, thank you!

Living in PA, we don't have the luxury of being able to play all year round. I have a large garage, so I'm thinking about building some sort of indoor pitching cage so that we can continue to practice regardless of weather. Has anyone built one and can you offer any suggestions for ideal width and materials to use? This sport, and having girls in general, is already costing me a small fortune, so material cost is a factor.

Looking forward to your suggestions. Thank you in advance.

 

[Ken B]

A couple easy options are a pop up net or a tarp/blanket suspended from the ceiling. With a little extra cost and ingenuity, you could rig up a retractable or hang up tarp system.

 

[rdbass]

Do you have 40'/43'? Or are we talking a smaller area?

 

[Softball Lovin Mom]

I need to double check, but I'm pretty sure I have at least 40' in length. (The ex-husband built a BIG garage) I was thinking of suspending PVC or metal poles, and hanging netting that could be pulled out when practicing, then pushed back when not in use. We have a pop-up net that I could use at one end. Would it be important affix some type of pitching rubber to the floor so that she can push off?

 

[NEPA-Fastpitch]

I think the pitching rubber is almost a need. Without a push off they will be learning incorrect form and follow through. I too live in Pennsylvania and use a net and affixed a 6" x24" piece of plywood to my concrete floor using tapcons.

 

[coach james]

My indoor cage is designed for mini whiffle balls only.
I ran two steel cables longways across the basement about 10' apart. Then I hung bird netting down both sides and the top. At the bottom on the sides, I ran some thick rope and secured it to the netting to act as the leaded rope on a typical cage. I secured it all with the micro zip cable ties..... whalla an indoor cage was born. I bought a "personal pitcher" mini golf ball pitching machine, and we can still put in the work on rainy, wet, cold, or frozen days!
All of the supplies came from a farm and feed store.
With the balls, machine, netting, and hardware, I honestly probably only have about $400 invested. Its been down stairs for 5 years now and has seen a hundred thousand swings....still going strong!

 

[JAD]

Is this for pitching only or will you also use it as a batting cage?

 

[coach james]

It batting only... I had already written it before I realized the OP was wanting pitching options...
For pitching we use a throw down turfed pitchers power line with a rubber on it. Its about 3'x7' big. We use the incredaballs and pitch into the poured cement wall in the basement. The ball bounces back pretty hard though... for drills we pitch into a jugs net from across the basement

 

[rdbass]

My hitting/pitching garage. We use during the cold/snowy PA winters. This was in the 'building' stage in 2011.

I even built a hitter out of plywood. Notice DD broke bat off while pitching.

 

[RetiredCoach]

I didn't set this up this past winter, but in previous years in my basement I setup a mini-pitching area. I only had about 20-25 feet to work with so I first took a 4x8' piece of plywood, cut it down to 3x8'. I stapled "astro-turf" to it and then I bolted a 4x24" pitching rubber and taped a power line the length of the board. I placed this on the carpet floor in the basement and then inflated a queen size mattress and stuck it about 20' from the pitching rubber. Then my daughters were able to pitch full speed with a reasonable facsimile of a pitching mound. This setup had the added benefit of them learning to get in fielding position since the ball would carom back to them at a reasonable rate. The disadvantage to this setup is that you won't really see your pitches break or know if you would hit your spots at a 43' distance. However, it was great for working on mechanics.