The chance to coach Waterford's 13-year-old Babe Ruth team was a no-brainer for Dave Laffey after the way the boys of summer mashed their way to last summer’s Connecticut Little League (11-12) championship and a berth in the New England Tournament.

Midway through this summer, Laffey was wondering where that team went.

“The district tournament, I think we kind of played down to the level of the competition,” Laffey said. “We got to the state tournament and lost our first game to Trumbull (2-1) in the bottom of the seventh inning.

“After the game, we really didn’t say too much to the team. Before our next game, we made a lineup change. We had a little discussion with them. They’re 13-year-old kids, so we didn’t want to break anyone’s heart with the changes, but we said for the betterment of the team, we have to shake something up to score some runs.”

The change didn’t just shake up Waterford. It made the team beastly.

Waterford routed nearly every team it’s faced since that loss at both the state and New England tournaments. It looks to continue to attack when it opens against Eau Claire (Wisc.) on Thursday at the Babe Ruth World Series in Ottumwa, Iowa.

Waterford has outscored its opponents 94-18 over its last 10 games.

Ryan Bakken, Trey Brennan, Jared Burrows, Ben Jerome, Sam Lanuza, Mike Marelli, Ryan O'Connell, Connor Podeszwa, Ryan Salvador, Matt Sanford, Luke Sokolski, Anthony Tonnucci and Robert Zawacki make up Waterford's roster.

Jerome and Sanford were moved up in the lineup to help jolt the offense. Jerome went into the leadoff spot, and Sanford, a lefty, began batting second.

“From then on (after the Trumbull game), we’ve just started demolishing people,” Laffey said. “We beat Stamford, which is a good team, twice (including an 11-1 rout in the state final).”

Laffey has coached in Waterford’s Babe Ruth system since 2001 and led the 15-year-old team to the 2014 World Series. He was an assistant for last year’s 15-year-old team and decided to bid for the 13-year-old job this summer.

“I was familiar with most of them,” Laffey said. “I knew that they had been good based on their run last year in Little League. It made it an easy decision for me to make.

“This team is very loose. They’re quiet, but you can tell that they’re relaxed when they play. They’ve played for a long time. They genuinely love each other. There’s no cliques. They’re all together and all support each other.”

Waterford has received contributions from all 13 of its players. That was evident when it played Taunton, Mass., in the New England semifinals (July 27).

“We tried to pitch (Burrows) on three days rest, but he was only able to go two innings,” Laffey said. “Luke Sokolski came in to pick up the slack and Connor Podeszwa pitched the last few innings.”

Podeszwa got out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning with the score tied at 6. He also struck out the last batter with the tying run at third base for a 7-6 win.

“We told the kids before we even started that someone you wouldn’t expect is going to have to step up and do something you wouldn’t expect,” Laffey said.

“I had a pretty good idea that we could end up where we are. I wasn’t 100 percent sure, but I knew we had the players.”

n.griffen@theday.com