Tucked away in the outskirts of Western Howard County is a plot of land that Joe D'Alonzo and those close to the Howard County Youth Program baseball organization like to call a "Field of Dreams."
The comfy confines of what is formally known as Buckshot Field in Dayton includes plush outfield grass, a well-manicured infield, updated dugouts and a touch of charm — the perfect home field for a HCYP Raiders program that fields 11 teams between the 13U and 18U age groups.
"It's a really special place that you kind of have to see for yourself to appreciate," said D'Alonzo, who serves on the Baseball Executive Committee for HCYP. "When you are a 12-year-old kid making that jump to a 90-foot diamond for the first time, you'll never forget that experience. And for these kids, to be able to do it on a field like Buckshot, it's almost unreal.
"This is a true 'home-field' for our players."
The truth is, though, getting Buckshot Field — co-located at the Dayton Rod and Gun Club — to its current state has taken some tender love and care.
HCYP has been around since 1952 as an organization sponsoring baseball in the county, but it was the Dayton Raiders that first occupied the field space. It wasn't until the late 1980s, when the Dayton team folded, that HCYP stepped in and invested time and money into leasing the Buckshot Field facilities.
With a field to call their own, the Raiders' travel program has produced more than 100 players that have played in college or were drafted by Major League Baseball teams.
After years of wear and tear on the grounds, however, individuals close to the program realized the time had come for a face lift.
"Honestly, last year we were playing on it with the 13U team that I coached and I was a little disappointed … I felt like my players weren't getting to play on the same quality field that I remembered playing on as a kid," said D'Alonzo, who was a little league and travel team all-star catcher in the late '70s while playing with the HCYP program himself.
"So I just kind of decided that I wanted to make the commitment and lead the charge."
In the fall of 2015, a "Beautify Buckshot Field" committee was created and D'Alonzo was the one heading it.
He says that he approached HCYP Raiders Travel Commissioner Ed Manekin and HCYP Baseball Director Brad Smith, along with HCYP Baseball Executive Mike Bender, with the proposal and they gave him the green light.
Once play finished up for the season, the process and planning began on an overhaul of the facility. And there were plenty of helping hands willing to chip in.
Mike Kerere, who is the Raiders' 16U Director of Baseball Operations for HCYP and has a 16-year-old son, Kalen, playing in the program, has been among those heavily involved. Also chipping in has been his oldest son, Anthony, who is an assistant coach himself and has been on board with upkeep since the renovations as well.
Overall, there have been over 50 individuals who have helped out at some point during the process to assist in the overhaul.
With any restoration project, though, Kerere says funding also plays a huge role.
"Dirt's not cheap, this ball mix is not cheap … you can eat through your budget really quick just with those things. Especially with a big rain storm like the one we had recently, it takes a lot just to get (the fields) back in playing shape," he said. "Luckily this program really tries to put the money back into the organization and you can see that through the fact that every time we raise a little money, we use it for something out here."
The list of upgrades over the past several months is a lengthy one — the entire park has been painted in Raiders' Blue with white trim, a double bullpen has been installed next to hitting stations down the foul line, the entire field has been re-sodded and the playing surface edges have been tightened and leveled. There is a brand new fence down the left-field line, a new windscreen on the backstop and crushed stone for drainage purposes around most of the warning track.
And the process is still ongoing, with more upgrades in the plans for the future. A new electronic scoreboard in centerfield and a pavilion top over the batting cage down the left field line are on the wish list once funding is available.
Still, as it currently stands, Buckshot Field has a place among the top facilities in the area.
"We have great fields and teams in Howard County and this program with HCYP is one of the best in my opinion … so these kids deserve a field like this," Kerere said. "And I'll be honest, we now have one of the best, if not the best, fields around. You go to a lot of these away games and you get there and almost nothing is done on the fields … it's terrible. But this field here is ours and we take a lot of pride in it."
This fall, D'Alonzo is hoping to be able to show off the refurbished field with some of the program's alumni. A date has not been set yet, but an alumni game is in the works for mid-October after fall ball wraps up.
Anyone who has ever competed on a Raider team at Buckshot field, including the Dayton Raiders, are being encouraged to participate. Interested individuals should email joseph@connec2media.com and D'Alonzo is hoping to get a great mix of alumni from the original Raiders all the way through recent graduates.
"We've been talking about getting this going for a few years now, eventually we will try to use it as a fundraiser, but for this year we're just looking at it as a fun way to bring the guys back and meet former players from the organization," D'Alonzo said. "The plan is to make this Raiders alumni game an annual thing. We feel like we have this great field and want the alumni to come back now and see it."