Before baseball, there was mace-maul, a medieval sport in which players wore chainmail uniforms, no-hitters were a bad thing, and each team’s disabled list was much, much longer. Practice a more civilized sporting event with today’s Groupon to Kick City Sports Park in Springfield. Choose from the following options:

• For $10, you get a batting-cage package for one (a $21.95 value).
• For $20, you get a batting-cage package for two (a $43.90 value).
• For $40, you get a batting-cage package for four (an $87.80 value).<p>

The packages include:

• One 10-token batting-cage punch card for each participant
• One Gatorade for each participant<p>

Kick City Sports’ batting cages hurl balls across plates at a slow, medium, or fast speed for baseball players, softball sluggers, and fast-pitch-softball swingers. Individuals, pairs, or foursomes can inflate lungs with fresh air in five outdoor hitting areas armed with one token each to exchange for 15 tosses powered by a pitching machine who intimidates swingers with steely, piercing eyes or shouts curse words about the batters’ mothers. In the comforts of the low-pressure practice atmosphere, batters can refine their swing and follow-through techniques and actualize dreams of knocking one out of the park. Each slugger can adjust the toss speed and opt for slow- or fast-pitch softball in four of the cages. Sluggers can toast to a solid hit with a swig of electrolyte-enhanced Gatorade and refuel for practicing future baseball-card poses.