Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the Clear Ridge baseball team on winning the Senior Little League World Series in Bangor, Maine, on August 6. This is the first team from Illinois to ever win this prestigious international tournament during its 56-year history. The Clear Ridge Senior League Championship team is made up of 16 extraordinary 15- and 16-year-old men from the Garfield Ridge and Clearing neighborhoods in Chicago, all of whom attend area Catholic high schools. Their journeys to becoming champions began as tee-ball players when they were very young. But this Senior League team only came into existence in May of this year. In a short amount of time, they were able to come together to form an extraordinary team. Clear Ridge showed dominance throughout the summer by not losing a single regular season game. In the postseason, they continued this trend by winning 19 straight games after a single loss to neighboring Burbank National in the first game of the district playoffs. The championship game pitted Clear Ridge against Asia-Pacific champion, Australia, whom they had already defeated once in the tourney, and who were considered by some to be the team to beat. But Clear Ridge turned out to be that team, prevailing 7-2 to capture the world title. The following Saturday, I joined hundreds of people at Hale Park to honor players, coaches, and everyone who contributed to the success of the team.…”