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Waterford Looking To Add To Storied History

WATERFORD, Ct. - The anticipation of a high school season at Waterford is noteworthy in 2021 after a year without baseball.

“The kids are ready to get after it,” explained Waterford head coach Art Peluso, who led the Lancers to the Class L state championship in 2019. “They’re excited to have pretty much a normal season.”

Following a cancelled campaign in 2020, Peluso looks ahead to this year with just two experienced players.

“It will be interesting to see where the kids are at, who’s been playing, who’s been working out,” Peluso admitted. “It’s like starting over.”

Ace pitcher Connor Podeszwa, the 64th-ranked senior right-hander in New England committed to Tufts, and number two hurler Don Driscoll, a southpaw headed to Mitchell College, bring experience on the mound to the Lancers.

“The strength of the team is pitching,” Peluso noted. “The top two guys pitched through AAU with their summer teams against a group of college teams and that should help them out. I’m thinking they will be mid-80 kind of guys, so they should be able to hold their own.”

Four additional seniors are being counted on to be major contributors for Waterford in Ryan Salvador, Will Ricetti, Logan Avin and Connor Rowe. Salvador, the sixth-ranked 2021 second baseman in New England, is committed to East Connecticut State and penciled in to play middle infield along with Ricetti, who could also see time in the outfield. Avin, the 82nd-rated senior right-handed pitcher in the area, will play third as well as pitch while Rowe is an outfielder.

“Lack of production is the biggest concern,” pointed out Peluso, who is beginning his 11th season at the helm including last year. “Babe Ruth, Legion and AAU are not as good from what I saw, so the majority of these guys have not faced varsity-type pitching. How can they deal with that?”

The hope is underclassmen can help out the cause.

“The current juniors have only played freshman baseball, they lost their JV/sophomore season, so we will have to see what we’ve got,” Peluso said. “It’s been 22 months since we’ve played a high school season.”

The lack of a 2020 campaign not only meant the inability to gain experience at Waterford, but a missed opportunity to contend for a state title.

“We won the Class L championship in 2019 and had 11 juniors coming back with three Division I scholarship pitchers,” reflected Peluso, who lost the likes of Jared Burrows (Hartford, SS/pitcher), Ben Jerome (Nichols, catcher) and Payton Sutman (Holy Cross, pitcher) to graduation in 2020. “This is a different group. We’ll have to see where their minds are at, but I think it will be fun. We’ll just have to see what happens.”

Juniors Brian Wielachowski, the 79th ranked 2022 catcher in New England, and Preston Tabor are competing for time behind the plate with hopes of being another strength on this year’s squad.

“I thought catching might be an achilles for us this year but the first few days we’ve had guys that look like they can handle it,” Peluso related. “That’s a pleasant surprise. Plus, most of the guys we have look like they’ve been working out.”

With 11 state championships in school history, the most in Connecticut, Peluso and company look forward to potentially adding to the number and perhaps leading Waterford to the state title game for the 18th time ever.

“This is my 25th year at every level,” explained Peluso about his long time working in the Waterford program. “We’ve won six state titles and been to nine since I’ve been here.”

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