.400 Hitter Rounds Out 2019 RHS Hall Of Fame Class

VERNON — A three-year varsity member of the soccer and baseball programs who gained All-State recognition once and All-CCC selection three times, Matt Valentino (Class of 1991) is the eighth and final announced member of the Rockville High School Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2019.

The hall will conduct its seventh-annual induction ceremony Sunday, Sept. 15 at the high school.

Joining the Rockville native in this year’s class are Tom Crane (Class of 1974), Lauren Person (2004), Jeff Johnson (1984), Sean Trask (1992), Amy Schrag (1987), Julie Blowers Bertsch (2003) and Pat Brand (1975).

This year’s induction class represents 11 different athletic programs and four decades, and brings the total number of RHS Hall of Famers to 60.

A 1 p.m. reception precedes the 2 p.m. induction ceremony. Tickets are priced at $20, with children 12 years of age and under admitted free of charge. Tickets can be reserved by contacting committee chair Scott Smith at 860-604-6618 or at smithsc33@sbcglobal.net

Valentino played four seasons under RHS Hall of Fame coaches Chuck Saimond (soccer) and Art Wheelock (baseball). In baseball, he was a senior All-State centerfielder who batted a team-leading .402 as a team captain in the spring of 1991, was named to the CHSCA Senior All-Star Game, and repeated All-CCC honoree. The three-year soccer starter at sweeperback earned All-CCC recognition as a senior captain in the fall of 1990.

With Valentino, the baseball varsity compiled a three-year record of 48-18 and never finished lower than third in the CCC. As a junior, Valentino batted .386 with 28 runs, 32 hits and 16 RBI and helped spark the Rams to three Class LL tournament wins — two of them blowouts and one a nail-biter won in the bottom of the last inning — and a spot in the state semifinals.

As the No. 2 hitter in the order as a senior, Valentino batted over .400 and struck out only once and helped the Rams to an early-season state ranking of third and a final rating of 13th. That team finished 17-4 overall, 11-3 in the CCC and in second place behind unbeaten East Hartford.

In the fall of 1988, Saimond made Valentino the team’s only sophomore starter after the squad lost its first two matches. After two losing seasons, the Rams surged behind the defensive play of Valentino and his three linemates in the fall of 1990. That season, they opened at 6-1-1 in the conference and spent time atop the CCC standings, shutting out two-time defending champion Manchester, 1-0, along the way. Ranked No. 22 in the Class LL state tournament that year, RHS was four minutes from advancing through the qualifying round before Fairfield scored the tying goal to force overtime, then converted a penalty kick in sudden death to pull out the win.

A member of the National Honor Society at RHS, Valentino went on to play four years of baseball at Division I Northeastern University (after being cut in the fall of his freshman year), serving as a senior captain in the spring of 1996.

Since graduating from Northeastern with a B.S. Degree in Physical Therapy in 1996, Valentino has worked in the healthcare industry. After spending 17 years as a physical therapist and clinical manager in Arizona, Valentino has worked as a home health physical therapist with the Visiting Nurse Association of Southeastern Connecticut since 2016.

Matt and Caroline Valentino reside in Waterford with their two young children.