Four teams, two bouts, screaming fans galore and roller derby action of the highest order. This was the high-spirited third round of the DC Rollergirls‘ sixth season last Saturday at the Armory.
Cherry Blossom Bombshells 120 – 57 DC DemonCats
By Special Correspondent: Rock Clobster
The first bout of Saturday’s double header at the D.C. Armory pitted the Cherry Blossom Bombshells against the DC DemonCats. Both teams were hoping for a win to stay competitive in Season Six, the Bombshells going in with a 1-1 record and the DemonCats stuck at 0-2.
The Bombshells hit their target first: after the DemonCats’ Jersey Jill earned an early trip to the penalty box, Bombshell jammer Yankee Scandal scored nine points in an explosive power jam. Jill then returned to the track to score the DemonCats’ first points, making it 9-3 Bombshells. Veteran Bombshell jammers The Ultimate Whorrior and Hook N’ SlasHer, facing DemonCat rookies Wilhelmina Scream and Nina Ninja, added five and four points respectively in the next two jams to up the tally to 18-3.
Seven minutes into the half, Bombshell Lucky Penny suffered a run of bad luck–not only did she lose her starred helmet cover and with it her ability to score, she was sent to the box before having the chance to retrieve it. Although this left DemonCats jammer Mini Vandal alone on the track for a power jam, she still had to get past the Bombshells’ Artemis Conduct, and could only steal three points.
The DemonCats would not score again until midway through the first half, in a jam where penalties kept both jammers from earning lead status. The DemonCats’ Jersey Jill racked up nine points, while Bombshell Yankee Scandal melted down the differential with six points of her own. At the end of the full-length jam, the score stood at 27-16.
A strong Bombshell defense kept the DemonCats’ rookie jammers scoreless for the next five jams, while the Bombshells’ score bloomed to 38 with help from Ridin’ Dirty, Hook N’ SlasHer and Yankee Scandal. Next time around the track, Bombshell Ridin’ Dirty made a clean pass through the DemonCats, although Jersey Jill snuck up behind her: both scored to make the tally 41-17.
Bombshell jammer The Ultimate Whorrior, aided by some big hits from Nubian Nemesis, bagged five more. Near the end of the half, Jersey Jill wowed the crowd, taking lead jammer three more times and ending the first half with a big nine-point jam to make the halftime score 54 Cherry Blossom Bombshells, 34 DC DemonCats.
Returning from halftime, Jersey Jill tried to shore things up for her team by earning two more points for the DemonCats. But the Bombshells’ domination continued in the next jam, as Lucky Penny, protected by blocker Scarlet O’ Snap’s stealth attack on Nina Ninja, scored nine. DemonCat Wilhelmina Scream bounced back from Helen Killah’s take-down to score her first three points of the bout, but Yankee Scandal then burned past a major multi-skater pileup to add four, bringing the score to 69-39 Bombshells.
After Jersey Jill slipped through the pack for four more, the DemonCats were stuck at 43 for the next five jams. Ten minutes into the half, Bombshell boom-chica-doom cashed in for four, but then both teams hit a scoring slump, with Bombshell Ridin’ Dirty adding one point, followed by two scoreless jams at 75-43.
Midway through the last half, Jersey Jill had a nine-point run, but Yankee Scandal and The Ultimate Whorrior flamed past the DemonCats in the next two jams to maintain a 30-point margin, 82-52. Lucky Penny scored three nickels worth with ten minutes left, while the DemonCats’ luck had all but run out. Only Jersey Jill would score again for the DemonCats, but her last five points did not improve the situation, after a Bombshell shellacking by The Ultimate Whorrior (9), Lucky Penny (4) and boom-chica-doom (5).
Although the DemonCats held the Bombshells scoreless in the bout’s final three jams, they were unable to scratch out any more points for themselves, with the game’s final score 120 Cherry Blossom Bombshells, 57 DC DemonCats.
Scare Force One 161 – 43 Majority Whips
By Special Correspondent: Rachel MadHo
Next up, the Majority Whips took to the track against Scare Force One for the first time in their inaugural season. The Whips’ tenacious jamming and pack work yielded some points throughout the game, but Scare Force kept the blows coming with consistent blocking and a sizable stable of veteran and rookie jammers. Scare Force prevailed with a final score of 161-43.
The very first jam was less than kind to the Majority Whips with jammer Stabigail Adams taking a trip to the penalty box just as Scare Force captain Soledad began her scoring pass. With six points up on the board and Stabby still serving her time, Scare Force sent co-captain Chinese Cheker to the jam line for another 16 points before Stabby’s return to the track forced a call-off.
Three jams in with 25 minutes on the clock, Nasty Pelosi put the Whips’ first points on the board in a 2-0 hit-and-quit. Another four jams went by before the Whips would score again. Despite holding Scare Force scoreless in two of those jams, Brutal Noodle and Deadly Lamarr put up another 13 points in the other two, bringing the total to 35-2.
A box trip for Scare Force’s Witchcrafty gave the Whips the chance to send Slam Grier out unopposed. The Whips eked out three points before Crafty returned, leaving the score 35-5. Whips hotshot Dual Hitizen, fresh from an impressive showing with Team France at last weekend’s Roller Derby World Cup, took to the jammer line next to continue what Slam started, putting up a four-point jam over Lenore Gore. In the next jam, though, Scare Force’s Sharp Shredder answered with a 5-0 grand slam and, with 13 minutes to play in the first half, the score stood at 40-9 Scare Force.
The Whips would only score in two more jams during the first half, pulling six points to Scare Force’s 46. 13 and 15-point tears for Deadly Lamarr and Marion Barrycuda swelled Scare Force’s score well beyond Dual Hitizen and Nasty Pelosi’s two and four-point gains, and the teams went to halftime with a score of 86-15 in favor of Scare Force.
Scare Force stayed ahead of the scoring in the second half as well, holding the Whips off the board for the first four consecutive jams while putting up 16 points of their own to land at 102-15 with 23 minutes left on the clock. The Whips caught a break when Brutal Noodle’s shortcut to the penalty box earned her an out of play major and an extra minute off the track–enough time for Jackie Mae Day to take an unopposed head start and score eight points for the Whips.
The next six jams, however, went 37-4 in Scare Force’s favor, with the greatest point increases courtesy of rookie skaters Deadly Lamarr and Sharp Shredder. In the latter half of the period, the Whips caught some momentum with hit-and-quit jams by Stabigail Adams and Dual Hitizen, but couldn’t keep up with Scare Force’s 22-8 run over the final five jams. The Whips ended strong, Maria Malicia and Jackie Mae Day holding Scare Force’s Feral Streak in the back of the pack long enough for Dual to clear the outside of the pack and come around for a final four points. Before Streak could add any more to Scare Force’s total, Dual called off the final jam, ending the game at 161 Scare Force One to 43 Majority Whips.
Season 5 Champions Scare Force One remain undefeated for Season Six while the Majority Whips are at 1-2 for their rookie year.
The DC Rollergirls’ next double header will be Saturday, January 28, 2012 at the D.C. Armory. The Majority Whips will have another crack at the Cherry Blossom Bombshells, followed by Season Six’s second face-off between the DC DemonCats and Scare Force One. Schedules, tickets details and more can be found on the official DC Rollergirls website.
