Pellerin Lake Sox Season Goes Swimmingly

Each week, Grafton Patch salutes a young person whose activities and contributions to the community have been outstanding. 

Whiz Kid's Name: Kyle Pellerin, 17

Whiz Kid's School/Church/Community Center: Grafton High School Class of 2o11 

Team: The Grafton Lake Sox

Sport, Position: Baseball, Catcher

Whiz Kid's Accomplishment: Kyle Pellerin is one of three captains this season for General Manager Joe Kuras’s Grafton Lake Sox in the Paul N. Johnson Baseball League. Pellerin has been the Lake Sox’s primary catcher this season, acting not only as the captain of the team, but that of the pitching staff as well, helping develop some of the younger relievers on the team into solid veteran starters of the future. Pellerin is batting .222 this season, getting off to a tough start, but is having his bat come around as of late. Pellerin batted .214 for the Lake Sox last season in which they went 7-9.

Pellerin also played for Grafton High School the past few years, helping them make the playoffs in his junior year. This past season the Indians went 7-13, but played very solid games against tough opponents, such as Northbridge whom they lost to 1-0. “We were definitely lacking the urgency that we had in years past, but we fought right to the end,” Pellerin said of the past high school season.

Pellerin also played football on the gridiron for the Indians as a defensive tackle/center and was a goalie for the Grafton/Blackstone Valley Tech ice hockey team during the winter months, making his transition to catcher in the spring time much easier. “It helps,” he said of playing goalie in the winter before playing catcher in the spring and all summer. “It’s a little different with the whole ‘catching’ glove—hockey it opens one way and catching it’s the other— and blocking the puck and blocking the ball, whether in the dirt or on the ice, is a little different, but once I get into it, it’s not bad.”

Whiz Kid's Key to Awesomeness: Off the field, Pellerin was an honors student and was named Mr. Grafton High School this past April. Pellerin is a huge Boston Bruins fan and will get to truly indulge in the Boston sports scene next year as he attends Boston University. “I love the city of Boston and I wanted to go [to school] in Boston somewhere and BU is one of the teams I grew up watching—that was my Bean Pot team,” he said. “Applying there and going on the tour, everything just solidified that it was just an awesome school and it just really fit my personality well.”

Here is more information about Kyle Pellerin:

How is the season going for you individually and as a whole?

On a personal level it’s been going pretty good. I’ve kept most of the balls in front of me when I’ve been down behind the plate and my bat has woken up recently. It was rough in the beginning because I had to get back in the swing of things after the high school season ended.

As a whole, we definitely have the talent, it’s just if we can keep away from those one or two innings where pitching falls apart or we have a bad defensive lapse, and if the bats can stay where they are now then we should be able to make a solid run.

What college or professional athlete inspires you and why?

The one that I’ve really looked to and someone that has really fulfilled my mindset over the past couple years has been Tim Thomas. He was a guy that up until his thirties had been on the back-burner and has played in all the minor league systems and all that, and then he finally got a break with the Bruins becoming an elite goalie in the NHL.

What is your most memorable experience as an athlete so far?

I’d have to say my junior year in football when we were finally able to clinch playoffs was one of the most memorable moments. We came from an all freshmen team at 0-11, switched coaching staffs my sophomore year going 5-6, then my junior year we went 6-5 and only had four seniors and were able to make playoffs. We did the same thing in baseball—baseball had a legacy of making playoffs. We had a great staff with kids that had played AAU and then my junior year we had one real senior on the team and we were still able to make playoffs. For hockey it would have to be junior year again, where we made the playoffs and were able to play Lunenberg.

What are your plans for the future athletically and academically?

Academically, I’m going to Boston University where I’m going to major in neuroscience. I was set on neuroscience when I was younger. I had an uncle who had neurodegenerative disease, so watching him go through all that, knowing him from when he was able to walk to ultimately his death, it almost made it like a driving point for me to be like there is a way to fix this.

As for my sports, I’m going to try to play hockey up to the highest level that they’ll let me play, whether it be intramurals, club or maybe even a backup on anything; I have nothing to lose.