NORTH MUSKEGON, Mich. — North Muskegon baseball won over 30 games this season, playing every single one of them on the road. Their field for over 100 years, affectionately known as 'The Shipyard', was torn down as the city constructs new baseball and soccer fields. Through it all, the Norsemen have stayed the course.
“I think it drives us. Because it’s a chip on our shoulder that we have that other teams done have,” said senior Ryan Delora.
All 40 games that North Muskegon baseball played this season were on the road.
Their long time home field, known as The Shipyard, was demolished this November as a part of the city’s plan to build new fields for baseball and soccer.
“It’s been an absolute grind. Every day when we practice, it’s not just games, we don’t have a practice field either. So we’re putting L-screens and bags in the back of pickup trucks. We’ve practiced at probably four different locations and for the kids the way that they’ve responded has just been unbelievable,” said Head Coach Garret Moyer.
Without a true home field, the Norsemen still found a way to celebrate their four seniors for senior night. They took the field at Muskegon Community College to honor them.
“It definitely was different. Because you don’t really have the emotions of not playing here so that was a little different. But it was still really fun day. We got to go out and compete and got a big win so it was kinda one last fun game before the playoffs,” said Delora.
The decision to build a new baseball field has been a long time coming. North Muskegon applied for state and federal grants over the last 10 years to fund the projects which otherwise, wouldn’t have been unattainable. Supporters of the team are upset that the new field wasn’t built for the 2024 season but City Manager Sam Janson says that the reason the new field wasn’t build for this year was because the grants weren’t available in time for this season. He hopes that contractors will be able to bid on the contracts of the new baseball site in the coming weeks with hopes that it’ll be ready for the 2025 season.
No matter what field they played on, the Norsemen played their game.
“Our record shows a lot about our culture I think. You can put us anywhere. Put us on any field and we’re going to give it our all and give it what we’ve got,” said senior Ben Meyer.
Most coaches and players will tell you that they enjoy having a routine. Same warmup, same, drills. But that wasn’t really an option this year with the constant location changes. Through it all, they made it work.
“We call it ‘AQ’ adversity quotient and I just think that it’s very high. Like when something hits us in the face, we respond really well. And that our goal, is to always respond better. Because we know that off the field, it’s great for life,” said Moyer.
“I think we’ve grown on each other, and helping each other. And I think it’s brought us as a group closer. Brought us closer to the coaching staff so we’ve tried to find the good in the bad,” said Delora.
The Norse season ended on Saturday with a 4-1 loss to Montague in the district final.
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