PD: Man arrested for damaging ball fields with ATV

WATERBURY, Conn. (WTNH) -- A Waterbury man was arrested after driving across school ball fields with an ATV and damaging them, police said.

The city's Parks and Rec department spent thousands of dollars to revamp the fields, hoping the schools baseball team would finally be able to play on them.

The Wilby High School baseball team used to have to get on a bus and travel to a nearby field for their home games. The fields behind the school were revamped this past fall, and everyone was excited that home games would really be played at home. Now, they aren't so sure that will happen.

Wilby High School Senior Todd Coelho hasn't played a single game on the fields behind the school yet. He and his varsity teammates were hopeful this was the year.

"I was hoping that we could play our games there 'cause we'll have more support from teachers and students cause it's like, all right, games right next to the school, we only have to walk fifty feet but, to find out we can't play here for a few more weeks, it's sad," said Coelho.

Police say on Sunday afternoon, 33-year-old Dennis Rowell, of Waterbury, rode his ATV all over the snow covered fields and the school's athletic director saw the whole thing.

"I stopped to check in and get a few things done, and when I was leaving I saw somebody out there on a quad and I immediately called the police 'cause I saw the damage, what was getting done to the fields," said Athletic Director Stephen Baldwin.

On Monday, the snow was melting, and deep muddy tracks were left in it's place.

It isn't just the varsity team that's being impacted by all of this damage. 30 games were slated to be played there this year.

The varsity, junior varsity and freshman teams all have 10 home games scheduled. Head Coach David Vecca is hopeful the fields get repaired soon.

"It's always tough when something like this happens. We're usually in the gym, and there is still snow on the ground, so we wouldn't have gotten out just yet, but this does set us back a bit," said Head Coach David Vecca.

Regardless of where they play, Coelho says the team is optimistic and plans on having a season to remember.

"We have a really good group of guys here, and we're gonna do, we're gonna get a lot of wins this year, and we're gonna do really good. We're gonna surprise a few people," said Coelho.