They decided the community needed a good middle ground, leading to the couple opening Swing Away in Cypress. Scott was able to use his architectural expertise to develop the facility on Cypress Valley Road and provide space for other businesses as well.
“Once we put [our son Derek] in Cy-Fair sports, we started seeing all these other batting cages, and him being the architect, I was like, ‘You know what, this is something you can whip up pretty fast and easy,’” Chris said. “So we decided to move his office out here.”
The couple did not limit the batting cages to just baseball; they said they have also seen a rise in softball teams using the space and have been able to feature other sports, such as cricket.
An advantage of the design is the cages can be broken up to hold more batters or opened up to provide space for full practices on rainy days. The facility also employs two former professional baseball players who coach and offer private lessons.
“We have four batting cages. They’re 70 [feet] by 14 [feet], so the biggest ones that you can get,” Scott said. “You can throw from a normal or from a professional or a high school pitching mound, the correct distance. We’re able to open it up, ... so it can be one big giant cage to do fieldwork and such.”
Swing Away also hosts birthday parties and corporate team-building events. Looking ahead, the McCarthys are gearing up for summertime and are looking to host camps and events such as wiffleball tournaments in the coming months.
Because Swing Away’s location is more secluded, visibility and community awareness have been difficult since the business opened in December 2020.
“But just putting up the signs, the flags, word of mouth, a lot of Coles Crossing people come right over here, ride their bikes even,” Chris said. “And so you just kind of spread the word that way.”
12730 Cypress Valley Road, Cypress. 713-360-6315. www.swingawaytx.com
Hours: Mon.-Fri. 3-9 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Sun. noon-6 p.m.
