The Ramona High School baseball team will soon have a new portable batting cage, thanks to the Barona Band of Mission Indians.
Chris Bertolero, the school head varsity baseball coach, said being able to purchase a batting cage is “a great step forward for the program.”
“It’s something we’ve greatly needed for a while and for Barona to give us this grant is greatly appreciated,” said Bertolero, who has already added the $5,000 gift to the school’s ASB fund to expedite the purchase of a new batting cage this week.
Officials from the Barona Band of Mission Indians and state Sen. Brian Jones of the 40th District ed Bertolero, former baseball coach Dean Welch and players at a Dec. 16 check presentation ceremony at Ramona High. Principal Antoinette Rodriguez and the school’s athletic director, Damon Baldwin, also participated in the celebration.
Raymond Welch, chairman of the Barona Band of Mission Indians, was there for the presentation.
“This is something we enjoy doing as part of our culture,” said Welch, a 1983 Ramona High graduate who played football and baseball for the Bulldogs. “We’re big on education since there are always funding cuts in the state. This makes my heart feel good.”
Bertolero said the timing is perfect for getting a batting cage since the spring baseball program starts Feb. 15. During winter baseball, which began with practices on Nov. 12, the players have won all three games they played, he said.
The batting cage is estimated to cost $6,200 and the high school baseball program is expected to pay the difference, said Bertolero, who coached the JV baseball team for 20 years before replacing the retiring Welch, who coached varsity for 23 years.
Barona’s $5,000 grant program has been in place since 2006, and since then about 800 schools in California have been awarded, said Sheila Alvarez, director of government affairs for the tribal group in Lakeside.
Any school in the Senate’s 40th District can submit an application requesting funds, which can be used for any classroom or student-focused activity such as music, arts and sports, Alvarez said.
Bertolero said he was introduced to Alvarez in November 2023 through his brother, who was coaching Alvarez’s son in the Ramona Pony League’s Halloween Tournament. Bertolero started the grant application process and then Trish Diamond, the mother of a junior baseball player, followed through with getting the application to Alvarez.
Jones said when Barona is ready to process applications, they ask his office to nominees. Typically, he said that involves writing a letter or making a phone call in of the nominee.
“I don’t tell them what to use the money for,” he said, noting that past recipients have included the Ramona Lutheran Church and School, which used the proceeds to purchase computers four years ago, and a Catholic church in El Cajon, which used their grant toward buying iPads.
“I know you have a great baseball program and now you can go to the next level,” he told the gathering of baseball players and coaches.
The portable batting cage will be used on the school’s baseball field by home plate. The 28 varsity and junior varsity players from freshmen to seniors will be able to bat inside the cage while the coaches stand safely behind it.
“The kids will love it,” said Bertolero, who is also a Kiwanis Club of Ramona member. “To them it means no more chasing foul balls because there will be something to catch them.”
Rodriguez said she appreciates having the funds to purchase the batting cage.
“It’s nice to be able to have that money come in to pay for a big-ticket item,” she said.
