Your D.C. Rollergirls All-Stars took a little trip to Philly last weekend to participate in the East Coast Derby Extravaganza. With D.C. on the rankings bubble for upcoming regionals, their first bout was a must-win.

Now onto the bout recaps, penned by our special correspondent Lady Burn Johnson:

The D.C. All-Stars (#11 East) kicked off the weekend by playing the very first bout on Saturday morning, a nail-biter against Providence (#10 East) that would end up being one of the most exciting bouts of the entire tournament. The last time these two teams met, at the Armory in late April, D.C. easily walked away with a solid 106-64 victory, but changes to the All-Stars’ roster in the intervening months meant this bout would likely be much closer. Although D.C. managed to hold onto a small lead well into the first half, the bout would see a total of 11 ties or lead changes. D.C. fans were on the edge of their seats until the very end — with 4:30 left on the clock, Providence had the 4-point lead at 109-105 — but Obitchuary and Sookie Slaughterhouse sealed the All-Stars’ fate with three well-played jams to close out the game with D.C. on top, 122-109. With this win, the All-Stars will almost certainly knock Providence out of their #10 ranking; whether D.C. will now claim that spot (and a coveted bid to the Eastern Region Playoffs in Baltimore this fall) remains to be seen, as the unranked London Rollergirls are also in contention.

Mere hours after that hard-fought victory, the All-Stars took to the track again, this time squaring off against the Tampa Bay Derby Darlins (#7 South Central). In May, Tampa came within 10 points of beating Carolina (who would quash D.C. a few weeks later), so the All-Stars knew they had a formidable challenge ahead. Tampa came out of the gate blazing; for much of the first half, D.C.’s blockers had a hard time figuring out how to contain Tampa’s speedy, nimble jammers. By halftime, Tampa had capitalized on that to build a commanding lead. However, D.C. rallied in the second half with a strong defense that kept Tampa’s score relatively static while the D.C. jammers steadily piled on the points. (A good percentage of D.C.’s final point total came from an explosive powerjam by the weekend’s star, Sookie Slaughterhouse.) In the end, D.C.’s strong second-half showing whittled down the 100-plus-point Tampa lead to 75 points, and Tampa finished the bout with a 164-89 victory.

D.C.’s B-team, the Capital Offenders, also made their mark on this year’s Extravaganza, taking on the Lehigh Valley Rollergirls, who had served up a bitter defeat to a mostly rookie Cap Offs squad at the Armory in May 2010. This time, the roles were reversed, with Lehigh Valley saving its best players for a sanctioned bout against River City later in the day, and D.C. loading up its roster with former All-Stars Condoleezza Slice, Chinese Cheker, Hooah Girl and Lucky Penny. Unsurprisingly, D.C. controlled the bout from the very first jam, building a solid lead that never saw a serious threat. In just 30 minutes, the Cap Offs managed to come within inches of the century mark, dispatching Lehigh Valley with a final score of 95-25.