This is my first post here and I'm just as green as grass so bare with me please.

I bought an Olympus E-500 several months ago to take pictures of my daughter playing basketball. I don't think the kit lense ( zuiko 40-150mm f3.5-4.5 ) is going to take me where I want to go and I'm discovering that Olympus seems to have some really nice, and really high if not over priced glass. I can't spend $5000 for glass right now, just can't do it but I could go $1000 to $1500 I guess.
Do you think I could make a significant improvment for that kind of money, if so what would you recommend.
Also I'm hoping to take lots of pictures of our local simi pro baseball team this summer if they don't run me off. ;)