One high school baseball season in Central Oregon was all it took for Mountain View coach Dave McKae to realize that his program needed an indoor batting cage.

“We get some strange weather,” McKae said about springtime in Bend. “There were a lot of practices where it was pretty cold out or snowing and we’d have to go into the gym and hit whiffle balls or tennis balls. You just don’t get a good feel doing that.”

If construction continues as planned, McKae and the Cougars should have a 5,000-square-foot indoor hitting facility of their own by the middle of March. Working mainly with donations, Mountain View’s baseball and softball programs have begun erecting a building adjacent to the Cougars’ baseball field that is expected to house three indoor cages.

“(Former Mountain View coach) Dave Williams did all the excavation (for the site) before it got shot down for various reasons,” McKae said. “This is the kind of place that needs something like this to move the program along.”

While the main construction of the building is almost complete, the Cougars are finishing the project with custom pavers around the entrance. For $50 or $100, depending on the size of the paver, supporters can engrave custom bricks with their business or family name or even pay tribute to former Mountain View athletes.

“We wanted to do something artistic for the front,” says McKae, who adds that the pavers will be coordinated to look like a baseball diamond. “The plan is to have grass-green pavers for the outfield and dirt-tan pavers for the infield. … The bases will be custom-poured concrete stamped with sayings that exemplify our program.”

For more information on the Mountain View indoor batting facility, contact project coordinator Dave Streeter at 541-639-5642 or at ds6930@att.com.

Hollisters to walk on at Nevada

Mountain View’s all-state quarterback and receiver, twin brothers Jacob and Cody Hollister, will join the University of Nevada football team next fall as invited walk-ons, according to their father, Evan Hollister. The brothers led the Cougars throughout the season, which culminated in a 14-13 victory over Sherwood in the Class 5A title game. Jacob Hollister, the 2011 5A offensive player of the year, passed for 1,860 yards and 32 touchdowns with just three interceptions. Cody Hollister, an all-state receiver in 2010 and 2011, caught 64 passes for 1,038 yards this past season and scored 17 touchdowns. The Hollisters, who are expected to redshirt in the 2012 season, join a Wolf Pack football program that went 7-6 last season and lost to Southern Mississippi in the Hawaii Bowl. Nevada will join the Mountain West Conference at the start of the 2012-13 academic year.

Lindburg gives verbal commitment to UP

PRINEVILLE — Crook County junior Makayla Lindburg, Class 4A’s two-time and reigning volleyball player of the year, has given a verbal commitment to play at the University of Portland. Lindburg, a 6-foot middle blocker, was also recently named one of 29 finalists for PrepVolleyball.com’s 2011 national high school junior of the year.

Summit grad sets Ivy League track record

ITHACA, N.Y. — Alyssa O’Connor, a 2009 graduate of Summit High and currently a junior at Cornell University, posted an Ivy League and school indoor record last Friday in winning the women’s 1,000-meter distance race in 2 minutes, 45.61 seconds at Boston University’s Valentine Invitational.

Cougar midfielder signs with NAIA national power

PORTLAND — McKayla Madison, a senior at Mountain View High School, has accepted a scholarship offer to play women’s soccer next fall at Concordia University in Portland. Madison, an all-state midfielder who helped the Cougars finish second in Class 5A in her junior season, joins a Cavalier program that has advanced to the NAIA national championship match in each of the past three seasons. Concordia went 19-5-1 overall in 2011 as the Cavaliers won their 12th consecutive Cascade Collegiate Conference title.

Two locals commit to play softball at Blue Mountain CC

Shelbee Wells, a senior at Mountain View, and Loran Saenz, a senior at Crook County, have both committed to play softball at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton next year. Wells, a pitcher, went 10-5 last season with a 4.75 earned-run average and was named to the all-Intermountain Hybrid first team. Saenz, who moved to Prineville this year from the Bay Area in California, was an all-league outfielder last season at Tracy High School, in Tracy, Calif.

Cougar linebacker headed to Southern Oregon

Nick Gentry, an all-state senior linebacker and tight end for Mountain View this past fall, has committed to play football at Ashland’s Southern Oregon University next season. The 6-foot-3-inch, 225-pound Gentry will likely play defense for the Raiders.