There is a popular scene from the movie “Field of Dreams” where Shoeless Joe Jackson walks through a time travel cornfield and gets another chance to play baseball.

Earlier this month - after he thought his career had ended when COVID-19 canceled the college baseball season a year ago - Dante Salerno got another chance to step across the baselines and into his own field of dreams.

“I was playing for Penn State Berks and we had just finished playing a game in Myrtle Beach last spring,” said the 23 year-old. “We sat down in the bus and our coach announced that the rest of the season was canceled due to the virus.

“We sat in silence for the whole bus ride back and I thought, ‘Well, that’s it for me. I’m hanging up the spikes.’”

Salerno thought he had finished a stellar baseball career.

At Marian, the Lehighton resident was a four-year starter. His career was highlighted by a 2015 season when led the Colts to a Schuylkill League Division 3 title with a .478 batting average and was selected the Times News Baseball Player of the Year.

At PSU-Berks, he was crushing the baseball through nine games during his abbreviated senior season with a .515 batting average.

His career numbers as a Nittany Lion were equally astounding. He batted .408 with 109 hits, including 12 doubles, 11 triples, and a .547 slugging percentage. Add 41 stolen bases and 40 walks and it’s easy to see that Salerno was an offensive machine and a threat to score every time he reached base.

Yet, he had to resign himself to the fact that any future at bats would more than likely only take place on PlayStation’s MLB video games.

That was until his coach at PSU-Berks asked him to return this spring as a fifth-year senior since the NCAA was granting an extra year of eligibility to spring sports athletes whose season was impacted by COVID-19.

“I had already finished earning my bachelor’s degree and I didn’t care for the master’s degree programs offered at Berks, so I still believed I wouldn’t play again,” Salerno said.

But that was about to change.

“That’s when I found the program in sports management at Misericordia University that I wanted,” said Salerno.

Although he now a had a school he was planning to attend in the fall of 2020, Salerno still wasn’t thinking about continuing his baseball career.

After enrolling at the school, a simple phone call threw a change of pace toward Salerno - and he was ready for the pitch.

His coach at PSU-Berks called Pete Egbert, the head coach at Misericordia. Just like that, a former Colt, who had become a Nittany Lion, was now a Cougar.

“It just fell into place for me,” Salerno said. “Even though I knew I was going to miss my teammates at Berks after playing there for three years, I was excited about the opportunity to play another year of baseball.”

Salerno is the only fifth-year player on the Cougars’ roster.

“They call me Grandpa,” he said with a laugh.

In a recent game against DeSales University, this “grandpa” smacked a triple, a double, and a single, scored three runs scored and knocked in two.

“Hitting is all about confidence,” he said. “I don’t care if Aroldis Chapman or an eighth-grade pitcher on the mound. I’m going up there to hit a line drive over the second baseman’s head.”

Misericordia coach Pete Egbert expressed his gratitude in getting Salerno to play for his team.

“Whenever you get a call from another school’s coach about a kid like Dante, you have to listen,” he said. “We’re grateful that he is here with us.”

Egbert explained that although the NCAA had awarded last year’s crop of college athletes another year of eligibility, most seniors playing at non-scholarship schools weren’t able to take advantage it.

“We had three seniors last year and they decided not to come back because they had finished earning their degrees here,” Egbert said.

“It doesn’t make sense to play if you are not immediately enrolling in a Master’s program like Dante did.”

For Salerno, it turned out to be the perfect situation. Because he has been given a second chance to take his bat and glove onto the diamond for one more season.

“The other day I played 16 innings in two games in left field with not a single ball hit to me.” he said. “But I have no complaints. I’m just thrilled to be playing again.”