Peru congratulates Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp for Prospect League title

The Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp baseball team made Monday’s Peru City Council meeting the first stop on its 2024 trophy tour.

General Manager June Keeley said the team wanted to stop in Peru first to express its appreciation and gratitude for the continuous support from the council and the city.

“Since we stepped foot in the Illinois Valley, which was initially just a quick fix over the summer of 2021, the support has just grown and built,” she said. “And the enthusiasm, the excitement, the energy, it’s just so unbelievable.

“So, it’s really nice to see it culminate into a Prospect League championship.”

The team won the Prospect League Championship 4-2 against Rex on Aug. 7 at Schweickert Stadium.

Mayor Ken Kolowski thanked the team on behalf of the city of Peru for the energy it has brought to the community and the patrons who attended the games.

“It’s a wonderful thing,” he said.

Assistant General Manager Lucas Burris went over the multiple records the team broke this year and said it couldn’t have happened without the fans. The Pistol Shrimp set new total, regular season, average and single-game attendance records this past season, registering more than 30,000 fans over the season.

“It’s been a culmination of a lot of this,” he said. “But a lot of things went into this, including breaking attendance records for our fourth straight season ... we’re just the fourth team since 2009 in the Prospect League to have this trophy. There’s not many teams that win in our league.”

SouthClaw Sam and the trophy will be at the 54th annual Burgoo festival from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday in Utica. There will be individual and group photo opportunities with the trophy. Pistol Shrimp championship T-shirts also will be available.

“This season was just so rewarding and so exciting,” Keeley said. “We’re just looking forward to taking another run at it again next year.”