RIVER EAGLE WINS NSA STATE TITLE

The River Eagle Budweiser men's slow-pitch softball team captured the title in the Missouri National Softball Association State Championship Tournament that was held last weekend in Ft. Leonard Wood.

Budweiser won five straight games to prevail as state champion, winning early-round contests 17-7, 24-13 and 12-1.

In the winner's bracket final, Budweiser rolled past another local team, Kohlfeld Distributing, 23-8. Kohlfeld came through the loser's bracket to earn another shot at Budweiser, which prevailed again 15-10.

Leading the way offensively for the state champions was Greg Turner with a .708 batting average in the tournament. Close behind were Billy King (.702), Scott Ponder (.684), Jeff Steffens (.667, three home runs) and Brad Elfrink (.667).

Other top averages were turned in by Ed Rinda (.591), Chad Callis (.588), Bleau Deckard (.550, three home runs), Paul Sander (.546), Brad Noel (.500), Jeff Beussink (.500), Ron Cook (.500), Brian Friga (.417) and Scott Siebert (.400).

Noel won three games on the mound while Cook pitched the other two victories.

Also, Budweiser recently won the second half of the Jackson Men's Softball League after also winning the first half. So Bud captured the overall title with a 34-2 league record.

Budweiser improved its overall record to 85-14 entering the NSA Regional Tournament in St. Louis over the Labor Day weekend.