Bells ‘n Bucs. It has a certain ring to it.

The handbell choir at St. John United Church of Christ will proudly represent their congregation, Evans City, and Butler County on the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 22, at PNC Park, where they will make their mark as the first handbell choir to play the national anthem at a Pirate’s game.

Nancy Thomas is a church member and a ringer in the handbell choir.

She also is a lifelong Pirates fan, who works 50 home games a year at PNC.

“I’m an usher, or as they like to call us, ‘hosts,’” Thomas said. “I’ve never seen a handbell choir play the national anthem.”

So being no ding-a-ling, Thomas called the person at PNC Park in charge of each game’s national anthem performance and asked if the handbell choir could give it a shot.

She was asked to send a demo video to determine the handbell choir’s skills.

“I said ‘We don’t have one, but our services are online,’” Thomas said. “Evidently, she watched one.”

Thomas was given a list of three dates, and the handbell choir chose a night game on Aug. 22 against the St. Louis Cardinals.

“I took that day off,” Thomas said of her hosting gig at the ballpark.

She said the handbell choir had eight members, but needed more for the national anthem job.

“We had to draft a few members to fill it out,” Thomas said, “including Lisa.”

“I was only given a few notes to play,” said the Rev. Lisa Griffin, pastor at St. John.

Griffin has a rudimentary knowledge of reading music, but decided to write the words to the national anthem below each note on the handbell choir’s sheet music so she knows exactly when to ring her bell.

Thomas made the announcement in church on the Sunday after being accepted by the Pirates that a few more members were needed for the handbell choir.

C.J. Rubinosky, 8, immediately raised his hand.

“His little hand just shot straight up,” Thomas said. “It was so cute.”

Amy Rubinosky, C.J.’s mom, said her son eats, sleeps and breathes baseball and wants to sink his feet into the turf at the field where his heroes play.

“It’s his dream,” Rubinosky said. “(Volunteering for the handbell choir) was a no-brainer for him.”

She said her son has played in the church’s youth handbell choir for special occasions and holidays at St. John, so he has a basic handle on ringing.

“Any opportunity to go to a Pirates game, he’s in,” Rubinosky said.

C.J. said he has three notes to play during the performance, and he’s not nervous at all.

“I just want to be on the Pirates field doing the national anthem,” he said.

C.J. said he rehearses with the handbell choir each Sunday since June.

“I’m feeling pretty good right now,” the lad said of the upcoming performance.

C.J.’s favorite player is Andrew McCutchen.

“He’s doing pretty good this season,” said C.J., who just finished his All-Star season as a second baseman with the Seneca Valley North baseball league.

Thomas said in the interest of efficiency, the handbell choir will not haul their padded tables to PNC Park.

Each ringer will hold two bells instead of laying bells down on the special table and picking them up as usual.

Kirt Jones, director of the St. John handbell choir, played music in the background at the last national anthem rehearsal at the church to replicate the distraction of the large crowd at PNC and the reverberation of sound the ringers will experience in the stadium.

The choir will play a simple version of the anthem to minimize the odds of mistakes.

“We’re not dragging it out,” Griffin said. “It’s not very long.”

The handbell choir members will wear matching St. John United Church of Christ T-shirts while they play, Thomas said.

The Pirates organization will provide seats for the choir members behind home plate and under an overhang, where they will be joined by fellow church members, friends and family for the game.

Thomas said her husband, who is a Pirates season ticket holder, purchased 60 seats in the same section so the choir and their contingent can sit together.

Thomas has followed the Pirates since childhood and is thrilled at the prospect of playing the national anthem before the game.

“I remember the 1960 World Series,” Thomas said of the game that made Bill Mazeroski famous.

She names former Pirates hurler Jason Grille as her favorite player to don the black and gold.

“I’d go in early to watch batting practice, and he’d talk to me,” Thomas said. “We are not allowed to talk to the players unless they talked to us first.”

Thomas ended up making eight quilts for Grille made from T-shirts he owned.

“He sent me at least 150 Pirates T-shirts to make quilts,” she said.

Grille picked up a number of shirts at the 2013 All-Star Game, where he pitched for the National League.

“He sent me the T-shirts he had gotten there and I made a small quilt for him,” Thomas said.

While she only requested he pay her the cost of materials to make the quilts, Grille sent her a check for $250 for creating the All-Star quilt.

She also made a quilt for former Pirates pitcher and announcer Steve Blass when he retired a few years ago.

Griffin also has been a Buccos fan since childhood.

“We listened to them on the radio, because you couldn’t always get them on TV,” she said.

She named Phil Garner, a member of the Pirates 1979 World Series team, as her favorite all-time player.

“I just thought he was fun and a great, dependable player,” Griffin said.

The women, C.J. and all the St. John ringers are keyed up at the thought of making PNC Park history by being the first handbell choir to play the national anthem at the park.

“It’s a small church, so it’s really exciting to do something like this,” Thomas said.