2007 Mascoutah Horseshoe Tournament
Altis and Johnson, Ice Homecoming
Horseshoe Title.
Overall consistency and clutch play
paid off for the top-seeded Rich Altis and Steve Johnson at the 12-team
Mascoutah Homecoming Invitational Championship Horseshoe Doubles Saturday night
at
Last year, Altis and Johnson defeated
top-seeded Charlie Webb of Mascoutah and his partner Jerry Dumstorff of St.
Jacob in dramatic overtime.
Griesbaum and Denault, who had lost
their only match in round eight, handed Altis and Johnson their lone defeat in
round nine.
"We got 'lucky' and won it last
year in playoff," Altis said. "It takes the other teams having to
beat some of the guys, because it's really difficult to win 11 games in a
doubles' competition. So, you get a little help from other people by their
knocking off some of the competitors - that's what I mean by luck."
Concerning their 40-37 loss to
Griesbaum and Denault, Altis added: "We had them but we let them go."
"On any given day anybody can beat
you," said 30-year veteran, Steve Johnson. "It takes endurance,
especially playing eleven games."
Altis just came to Mascoutah from
Webb and Dumstorff, seeded second,
ended up in fourth place with a 7-4 record. Sam Carter of
"This tournament is so competitive
- all the way from one through twelve; anybody can win," Charlie Webb
said. "There were some upsets today. That just proves that the competition
is here. It's a long grind. It started at
Webb, a 10-time winner at Mascoutah,
did not display disappointment with his fourth place finish. "Everybody
has a good time. We have such a nice place here to play. Everybody always looks
forward to being here. "
To Webb, there's always another match.
Next week, he plays at the Illinois State Fair. Earlier this summer he had
finished sixth in a big singles tournament in
Former Mascoutah resident, Art Houseman
- now resident of
Also present: Dave Shreve, the Regional
Director of the National Horseshoe Pitching Association, became a participant
when a pitcher did not show up. And Leo Bratland, Illinois Association
President, and his wife Debra kept the official scoreboard.
"Charlie asked Debbie and myself
to come and help out," said Bratland, whose Danville Tournament is one of
the largest in the country that gets the top pitchers in the
"
As far as the competition, Bratland
added: "Everybody is a pretty good sport about it. People are competitive
but after the game they shake hands, talk, and socialize."