KENNEWICK, Wash. — National Sports Day is meant to encourage people to participate in sports they love. Naturally I found myself at D-BAT Columbia Basin in Kennewick. The facility is open to the public and membership based.
With seven hitting tunnels, three pitching tunnels and 4 batting cages available, the facility allows parents to take their kids in to be trained.
Aside from the batting and pitching practice, D-BAT offers camps and clinics for teams or groups. During the camps and clinics, trainers are in charge of making sure each athlete is perfecting their pitch, swing or catch.
Much of the training is done with help from parents. According to D-BAT, the trainers often rely on the parents to give feedback as to how their kid is playing. As for how many trainers are available, it varies between baseball and softball.
The facility has seven baseball trainers and ten softball trainers. If you need help with strength and conditioning, there’s a coach for that as well.
However, the facility isn’t only available for walk-in training, you can rent it out for team builders, birthday parties and just about anything else.
I talked with Robert Benson, a trainer at the facility who says they’ve even hosted corn hole tournaments in the hitting tunnels.
Recently, the facility decided to add a softball pitching tunnel, leading to the expansion of the 2,000 sq ft. facility.
Located just above the Pro-Shop, you can find the new deck and new home of the golf simulator. The weight training area is just below at the start of the hitting tunnels.
In talking with him, I realized the facility is the perfect place for the community. He says oftentimes, parents have memberships to bring their kids and train them themselves.
Robert, originally from South Dakota, moved to the area as an officer and fell in love with the Columbia Basin. He and his wife started a fastpitch league and eventually found themselves wanting to give the community a place to practice and perfect their craft.
Today, the facility is growing with more and more talented athletes. Located in the family waiting lounge, is a wall of local athletes that have practiced/trained at D-BAT Columbia Basin and played in college.
On another, you’ll find plaques with the names of MLB players that have practiced at a D-BAT facility across the country. On that wall, you’ll find the plaques of two locals — one from Tri-Cities, WA and the other from Othello, WA.
To give some history on the training and dedication D-BAT trainers have, it was founded in 1998 by brothers, Cade and Kyle Griffis. The two would travel around the United States giving other private lessons.
It was then that they realized they needed to do something bigger, so they opened D-BAT Academy in Addison, TX. They started with just three locations and quickly grew to have over 145 locations nationwide.
Benson tells me each month, the facility has trainers or other athletes come in and do specialty camps.
For example, coming up is a Halloween Camp followed by a Veterans Day Camp. Each month, they’re also hosting programs for the different positions of the diamond, from pitching to hitting and even catching.
For all things D-BAT, you can visit them in person at 6416 West Hood Place. Suit A150 Kennewick, WA 99336 or become a member through its website.
Just want to visit the Pro-Shop? You can do that too! Athletes can get fitted for just about anything related to baseball/softball.
