Home away from home

For most of the members of the Scorpions, Yuma is just a place to spend the summer while chasing big-league dreams. And though there is always no place like home, Bob and Lisa Rammelt are doing their best to accommodate players with the next best thing.

For the second straight year, the Rammelts have provided a home away from home for Scorpions players as part of the team's host family program.

"We had two extra bedrooms and it just sounded like a fun thing to do," said Lisa Rammelt, who is also the treasurer of the Scorpions booster club. "It's not nearly as strange as people think it would be to have someone you don't know living in your house, especially because you have the backing of the Scorpions. We have two guys this year who are both really good guys and I think we'll miss them when they're gone."

The Rammelts took in Scorpions shortstop Jordan Prado and second baseman Ryan Gipson this season.

"They've just been awesome," Gipson said of his host family. "They're the nicest people in the world and they'll do anything for us. We got really lucky."

Potential host families are put through an interview and screening process. The only requirements for volunteers are to provide each player they take in with their own bedroom and access to a bathroom.

The players are paid meal money; therefore, food isn't necessary.

"We have invited them to share meals with us, and taken them out to eat, but it's not required," Lisa Rammelt said.

For Prado and Gipson, the close quarters and the amount of time spent together has been somewhat of a blast from the past. They were also the double-play combination up the middle at Shasta Community College in Redding, Calif., during the 2002 and 2003 seasons.

Prado went on to star at New Mexico Highlands University, while Gipson won a national title at Oregon State last year.

"The first day at (the Scorpions) meet and greet it was kind of funny to see each other's face again," Prado said. "I don't think either of us thought that we'd be here, but we're here now and it's been fun. It's kind of a long-standing relationship in the middle of the infield."

The Scorpions have a shortage of volunteers, and they are in particular need of Spanish-speaking hosts.

Rammelt said she took in two players rather than one because of the lack of hosts, but she added that the experience hasn't been a burden at all.

"They're living their own lives. They're working nights and playing hard," she said. "And they're very nice, tidy and they're polite - really all the things you'd want a guest to be while they're in your house."

Prado added that the generosity of people like the Rammelts within the community has allowed him to keep pursuing his dream.

"They make it a real comfortable situation. It helps us out and it helps out the Scorpions a lot too," Prado said. "Without the host families, a lot of this probably wouldn't be possible."

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HOST A SCORPION

Players on this year's roster are still in need of host families. Interested volunteers can inquire by calling the Scorpions main office at 257-4700.

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Derrik Miller can be reached at dmiller@yumasun.com or 782-6520.