EDWARDSVILLE – Joel Quirin had a big opportunity in Tuesday night’s Illinois American Legion District 22 baseball playoff game against Valmeyer at Hoppe Park.
Quirin stepped up to the plate with one out and the bases loaded with Post 199 trailing 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh and the winning run at second.
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“I had a feeling that he (Valmeyer’s pitcher) was in a tough spot, he was going to start me off with something off-speed,” Quirin said. “He did; he started me off with a curve ball.
“I saw his curve ball just the at-bat before and I knew it was something I could handle if I got it first pitch.”
It was a curve ball and Quirin got ahold of it and sent it into center field to bring in Konnar Loewen and Tate Wargo to give Edwardsville a 6-5 win to advance in the Legion District Tournament.
“Granted, he left it up and I just tried to put a good swing on it, tried to drive a gap or something to get those runs in,” Quirin said. “It snuck up the middle and luckily, the center fielder kind of let loose on that one and we got that one pretty easy.”
Valmeyer entered the game facing elimination after a loss the previous night to Alton, and Quirin and the rest of the team knew it. “Valmeyer’s a really good team,” Quirin said. “I know a couple of guys who play for them and I’ve played with them since I was 12 years old; that’s a good team – they’re a tough team, too.
“They’re not going to let you put runs on them and lay down; they’re going to come back at you. They’re going to pitch you, going to hit you – luckily, we just came out on top today.”
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Feeney, 56, is a native of Granite City and graduated from Granite City South in 1978. He was a part-time writer for the old Granite City Journal from 1979-84 before attending Eastern Illinois University in Charleston,
from which he earned his BA in journalism in 1988. He has worked for newspapers in Sikeston, Mo., Rocky Mount, N.C., Seneca, S.C. and in Charleston-Mattoon. He also worked for the old St. Clair County Suburban
Journals.
