RAMONA — After nearly three years, the Ramona Express finally has a home.

Founded in 2023, the Eastern Dakota League member had played nearly every single game, regardless of who the home team was, on their opponents field. The only exception was a neutral site game against Milbank, an 8-6 loss to the Firechiefs, in their inaugural season at Colman’s field.

While the relatively new amateur team made the all-road schedule work, manager Logan DeRungs says it’s nice to finally have a home field advantage.

“It really wasn't that bad,” said DeRungs. “Like, Volga, I mean we're probably home to Ramona by the time they get field dragged and lights off, you know. It wasn't that bad, but I do know that, you know, not going to Milbank twice, and Clark twice really is nice.”

DeRungs says they’ve hosted high school baseball games on the baseball field in Ramona before, but the depth of the infield dirt made for an awkward scene for 90-foot base paths.

A photo during the national anthem before amateur baseball action between Ramona and Lake Norden. (Courtesy photo / Logan DeRungs)

“The field was only playable for 60-foot bases, so that was kind of part of our renovation,” said DeRungs. “They played some high school games on it, like, two or three years ago, but first base and third base was like right on the edge of the grass, and second base, I think the entire second base was in the grass. And so it was just weird.”

On top of the base paths, the Oldham-Ramona/Rutland school district hosted football games in the infield for a number of years, with two field goal posts and a centerfield crows nest in the field of play.

“They put the goal post pads on that we put on for football games so the right fielder is running to catch a ball, and he's got to stop and make sure he doesn't run into the goal post, and the crow's nest was in play,” DeRungs said. “It was really weird.”

Aside from the obstacles within the field, DeRungs says a lot of the funds they earned through grants and generous donations went towards enclosing the fence around the field and extending an extra 30-foot arch of agrilime dirt to the infield.

“We had a very generous former alumni that was actually a member of the 1987 state championship football team,” said DeRungs. “He wishes to remain anonymous, but he donated $2,000 and his company matched it. Sioux Valley Energy gave us about $6,000 and then the Minnesota Twins gave us 10 grand.”

A big part of the funding came through the Minnesota Twins Community Fund Fields for Kids Grant that gives a matching donation to renovate baseball and softball fields across the Midwest.

A photo showing the new netting and fencing installed around the field. (Courtesy photo / Logan DeRungs)

With enough money to renovate the field, the Express were on a fast track to a new home.

“I would say about this time last year, we kind of really started digging our heels in,” DeRungs said. “We probably didn't start actually, like breaking ground and working on it until the season got over.”

DeRungs said they even got creative when it came to certain aspects of the renovation. After removing the old football goal posts, they cut off the uprights to one of the goal posts, repainted them yellow, and are now repurposed as foul poles down the first and third base lines.

DeRungs says they also pushed the crows nest back out of the field of play, leaving a large patch of dirt. Instead of planting new grass, he went to ORR superintendent Dawn Hoeke for a favor.

“The school is getting torn down,” said DeRungs of the Oldham-Ramona school. “So they're gonna bring in excavators and tear down the old brick building, a 100-year old two story building, but it's gonna get torn up. So I asked the superintendent, ‘Can we get the sod cutter and cut the sod and take it out and put it where the crow's nest was,’ because it’s black dirt now, versus planting grass, because that'll take forever to grow. So we transplanted a bunch of sod. I mean, it was a lot of work, but it looks nice, you know, it's green and it looks a lot better now.”

It took the entirety of the offseason and even up to the day of the first home game to renovate, from a new outfield fence to an extended infield dirt surface, but the field was finally ready for its first amateur baseball game.

A group photo with Lake Norden and Ramona after the first-ever home game at DeRungs Memorial Field. (Courtesy photo / Logan DeRungs)

The Ramona Express took on the Lake Norden Lakers in a 14-1 loss on June 11, and while the score didn’t go in favor of Ramona, it was a special night of baseball at DeRungs Memorial Field.

“It was really cool. It was kind of an emotional thing for me,” DeRungs said. “I started at first base, a first cousin started second base, a first cousin started shortstop and a first cousin started third base. Pretty cool, like we're all DeRungs, like it was a DeRungs at third, DeRungs at second and a DeRungs at first. And (Aaron) Schlosser is the name of the kid that started at short but his mom was my dad's sister. So, I mean, like, you know, it's our names on the field, and we're all playing, and it's pretty damn cool to be honest.”

The field was named after Logan DeRungs’ two great uncles who passed away during World War II, adding a little extra pride into the revamping process.

But it wasn’t just a one-man crew when it came to the changes made at the field. Paul and Tony Fischer, this season’s Friends of Amateur Baseball for the Express, played pivotal roles by volunteering their time and energy throughout the past year.

“They don't even play. They don't have a desire to play,” said DeRungs on the Fischers. “They don't make a dime, they won't take $1 for it. I've offered them time, fuel, nothing. They just want to give back. They want to help. A lot of times you hear that, and you kind of roll your eyes out and stuff, but it's just the truth. They're doing it out of the goodness of their heart. They're doing it to help, and that game Wednesday would not have happened without those three guys. There's not a chance.”

And the ceremonial first pitch came from yet another key contributor to both the renovating process and the team as a whole, Darwin Stewart.