Belleville Budweiser

Belleville Budweiser

For a 12-year period from 1982 through 1993, one of the better teams to grace the softball fields of Southern Illinois and the Greater St. Louis area was the team of Belleville Budweiser.
Without doubt, they were perhaps one of the finest Class B teams in all of Illinois as they finished in the top ten rankings of the Great Lakes Division seven times.
In 1984, the Belleville team was the last undefeated team in the divisional tournament held at Rockford, before falling to Powers of Michigan to capture 2nd. In Class B divisional tournament play, the Bud squad finished 6th, in 1989, 5th in 1990, 8th in 1991, 4th in 1992, and 6th in 1993. In 1984, the team won the Class B state tournament at Peoria-Pekin, prior to capturing 2nd at the Class A State Tournament at Rockford. In 1987 and 1990 the talented Belleville squad finished 2nd both years at the Class B State tournaments.
This team was loaded with talent, as they presently have six of its members in the Illinois USSSA Hall of Fame. Congratulations to all the members of this fine team.
The following are the members of Belleville Budweiser with Hall of Famers denoted by *.
Dennis Albert *
Dirk Androff (deceased)*
Rick Beatty
Jeff Davenport
Mark Elbe (deceased)
Kevin Elbe
Greg Knolhoff
Leon Kreher *
Mike Kreher *
Kevin Mantz
Larry Mohme
Joe O’Connor
Mike O’Connor*
Kenny Pour
Kevin Pour
Ray Pour
Al Studt*
Mike Werle*