DC Rollergirls All-Stars 185 – 109 River City Rollergirls (Richmond, VA)
By Special Correspondent: Lady Burn Johnson
DC’s pick-up B-team, the Capitol Offenders, got things started with a bout against the Salisbury Rollergirls of eastern Maryland. Despite fielding a team of just 10 skaters, Salisbury proved to be a formidable opponent from the opening 25-0 jam, often racking up multiple grand slams on each outing. Within the first five jams, Salisbury had mounted a commanding 75-4 lead over the Offenders’ mostly rookie squad. Despite some strong defensive surges midway through the first half and at the end of the second, the Offenders were physically outmatched by Salisbury, who walked away with a commanding 326-49 victory.
For the main event, the DC All-Stars faced off against their longtime regional rivals, Richmond’s River City Rollergirls. Although River City has been on the losing end of all three of their previous matchups with DC, they came into this bout fresh off a strong showing at the East Coast Derby Extravaganza in June. DC, meanwhile, was riding high on a seven-game winning streak.
Jersey Jill got things started with a quick grand slam for DC, but was sent to the box soon after, freeing Forty-Ounce Bounce to rack up 10 for River City in the next jam. DC’s Lenore Gore answered with 14 points in the following jam while Chinese Cheker and Soledad kept Bridge Burner in the pack. River City got the chance to take back the lead when Lenore earned back-to-back box trips, but strong defense from Soledad, Velocityraptor and Chinese Cheker kept Venus Vegas from putting up any points, leaving the score 20-10 in DC’s favor.
After trading a couple of hit-and-quit jams, River City got another powerjam opportunity midway through the half; this time Julia Bondage capitalized on a light DC pack to rack up 18 points, bringing the score to 34-24, River City. Two jams later, Thistle Hurt and Raven Darkhold kept Jersey Jill occupied while Forty-Ounce Bounce ballooned River City’s lead to 41-28. But that’s where River City would stay for the next five jams, while DC added a total of 26 points to the tally, bringing the score to 54-41. Rookie Frightmare helped increase DC’s lead further with two grand slams while Soledad, Chinese Cheker and Lenore Gore held Paris Kills back.
Richmond struck back with a couple hit-and-quit jams for Raven Darkhold (one of the bout’s standout jammers) and Traumagotchi, bringing the score to 64-54 as the clock wound down on the first half. DC held Richmond there for the last few jams as they packed on a few more points, going into halftime at 72-54.
DC came out strong in the second half, with Lenore Gore cementing the lead by racking up 21 unanswered points while Raven Darkhold sat in the penalty box and emerged to contend with the one-two punch of Chinese Cheker and Jackie Mae Day. Penalty trouble continued to plague River City’s jammers; two trips to the box in one jam for Traumagotchi freed Jersey Jill to score 15-0, followed by 14-3 for Lenore Gore, who persevered with only two blockers on the track and after absorbing some massive hits from Raven Darkhold and Thistle Hurt.
With DC up 125-57, River City called a timeout to regroup. Their strategic shakeup didn’t immediately pan out, though, as a botched star pass sent pivot-turned-jammer AABWS to the box while Lenore Gore added 10 unanswered points to DC’s tally. In the following jam, her shot at redemption was neutralized by DC’s Dual Hitizen, who emerged from the box to score eight points to AABWS’ nine, bringing the tally to 143-70 in DC’s favor. The scoreboard stayed virtually static for the next several jams, until a powerjam for Raven Darkhold at around the 10-minute mark added 15 points for River City, making the score 155-85.
Jersey Jill padded DC’s lead with another nine points while Velocityraptor and Hoova Dayum kept the hits coming on Raven Darkhold, but the tireless Raven wasn’t finished yet. Two jams later, she capitalized on a powerjam to put up 12 points for River City–but it was no match for the 17 points Dual Hitizen earned on her return from the box. Two non-scoring final jams kept the tally unchanged for the final minutes of the bout, with DC finishing on top at 185-109.
The DC All-Stars’ next matchup will be against Philly (the #2 team in the region) on their home turf on August 11.
