Net Benefits

So you’re driving down C Street next to the high school. It’s a nice spring day, and you’re enjoying the sounds of Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer” blasting out of your radio. Life is good.

Out of nowhere, there is a sonic crash on the side of your door.

Your summer serenity has just been shattered by a foul ball.

That’s the scenario school district officials hope to rectify with the installation this spring of a new net that will run along Alhambra Avenue and C Street. The present C Street net is in two parts – a lower portion and an upper portion.

According to district official Danny Hillman, a right-handed ball player will hit a foul ball so that it veers off toward C Street. More often than anyone would like, the ball finds its way between the upper and lower net, and onto the street.

And since the street is where cars are either driving or parked, all too often the foul ball finds its way to a vehicle, and the laws of physics kicks in. That’s never good.

Another statistical argument in favor of the new net – Hillman said that 80 percent of all high school batters bat right handed.

The new net system will include three new poles and a 60-foot high net to contain those right-handed foul missles.

The school board voted Monday night 5-0 in favor of authorizing the design for the new netting for $12,000. The total cost of the project, once it's approved by the state, will be around $40,000, Hillman said.