FORT MILL -- Baseball and softball players gearing up for fall leagues or anxious to hone their skills for next season will have a high-tech practice facility beginning Monday.

Frozen Ropes, an 18-year-old national chain out of New York, will open its first Carolinas location at 9030 Northfield Drive in Fort Mill.

The 9,000-square-foot facility isn't just for established players. Beginners are welcome too. The minimum age is 3.

Features include computer-enhanced baseball and softball pitching machines that simulate a pitcher's windup and delivery. There are batting cages, infields for fielding practice and full-time instructors. It's designed for team rentals, but individuals can use the facility, too, owner Chris Brami said.

Brami was inspired to open the facility after watching his daughter, Meredith, an eighth-grader at Crestdale Middle School in Matthews, N.C., excel in travel leagues in fast-pitch softball. He's excited about the prospects of helping his daughter and others improve.

"We have the ability to teach throwing, hitting, fielding, base running," said lead instructor Josh Freeman. "We've had a couple of travel and rec league teams in here already as our guinea pigs. They loved it."

The pitching simulator is the biggest difference between Frozen Ropes and other baseball/softball facilities, Freeman said.

"The video screen is set up and looks like a real pitcher when you're standing in the batter's box," he said. "It's synchronized with the pitcher's arm motion. If you're batting, you don't know what pitch is coming. It's the most realistic thing I've seen."

Frozen Ropes has resources that allow the studying and teaching of biomechanics, motor learning, sports psychology, visual training and conditioning.

"We call it our showtime training," Freeman said. "It's the Frozen Ropes way of teaching the mental aspects of the game, like knowing what to do when the ball is hit to you, understanding game situations."

Brami has been a salesman and sports fan for more than 30 years. His baseball and softball knowledge grew as his daughter got better.

He figured he had a can't-miss opportunity.

"We did surveys all over the place," he said. "This area, from Ballantyne to Fort Mill, seemed perfect. It was like, 'If you build it, they will come.' "