As winter turned to spring, Noah Rhoades looked to the upcoming Plum baseball season with excitement.

Getting back on the field and playing with his friends gave him a renewed energy. Plans also included a trip to New York this summer as part of this year’s Plum Cooperstown team.

But as the coronavirus pandemic was in its early stages in March, Cooperstown officials called off the 2020 tournament season.

The Plum 12U players, along with thousands of others from across the country, were denied their opportunity to play in the prestigious annual tournament which brings 105 teams a week to the home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame from June to August.

“I was very disappointed,” he said. “It was our one chance to go up there, and we didn’t get to go.”

But Noah and his 11 teammates had their Cooperstown spirits lifted recently as a Plum resident and longtime Cooperstown umpire, Ron Sakolsky, presented each of the boys a Cooperstown ring, a coveted keepsake each player, coach and umpire takes home from the tournament experience.

“I told (Plum Cooperstown coach) Kirk (Rhoades) these boys deserve what others in the past have gotten. It was the right thing to do,” said Sakolsky, a newly retired teacher from the Plum School District and veteran umpire for Plum youth baseball and at the high school and college levels.

“I am known as the Plum Cooperstown umpire. I’ve gone to Cooperstown since 2000 when Plum went for the first time. I didn’t (give the rings) for me. I did it for the boys. I just had the ability with all of the rings I had been given. I don’t wear them. They may not be valuable as jewelry, but they are very valuable sentimentally.”

Sakolsky presented the rings, as well as Cooperstown baseballs, June 29 between games of an in-house league doubleheader at the Plum Borough Fields. Each player was able to pick a ring from his collection.

Sakolsky umpired games at Plum on Monday, and coach Rhodes said plans for the ceremony were assembled quickly.

“Ron called me Sunday and wanted to see if we could put something together for the boys,” Rhoades said.

“He left it as a surprise. I didn’t really know what he wanted to do. He just asked if I could get the boys together. It worked out that all the kids on the Cooperstown team were playing games that night.

“It was a very special moment. He made sure they knew that just because they didn’t get the chance to play there this year, they were no less of a team that the ones from Plum who got to play there in the past. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the kids. They were thrilled.”

Noah Rhoades said he and his teammates were surprised.

“I didn’t think he was going to do anything like that,” he said. “It’s a great feeling to be able to hold a Cooperstown ring.”

The ring is special to team member Braden Kemmerer who watched older brothers Logan and Cole bring home rings from Cooperstown in 2016 and ‘17, respectively. There are three ring colors — red, green and blue. Logan has red, and Cole has green.

Braden made sure to select blue to complete the color collection. His ring now owns a prominent place on the nightstand next to his bed.

“I really like it,” he said.

Plum teams own a bid to attend the Cooperstown tournament every year, and coach Rhoades said this year’s squad, through fundraising, had collected $35,000 to be put toward trip expenses.

“They made the decision early on, in mid March, to cancel this year’s tournament,” coach Rhoades said. “The kids were devastated. As a team, we decided to look at what options we had.”

Rhoades said the team voted Tuesday to attend a still-scheduled tournament at the Cal Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach, S.C., from July 19-24.

“The kids were really looking forward to playing together this summer,” coach Rhoades said. “We wanted to make sure they still had that chance.”

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