If you weren’t at the D.C. Armory on Saturday for the D.C. Rollergirls‘ fourth bout of the season, you missed a couple of real nail-biters. Adding to the excitement was the debut of a new rule-set, the most significant aspect of which was the elimination of minor penalties. Another big change was Scare Force One playing for the first time without two of their strongest skaters in Soledad and Chinese Cheker, who have left D.C. for greener pastures.
Cherry Blossom Bombshells 186 – 144 D.C. DemonCats
By Special Correspondent, Rock Clobster
The first bout of the D.C. Rollergirls’ January 12 doubleheader saw the Cherry Blossom Bombshells taking on the D.C. DemonCats. When these two teams battled back in October, the Bombshells prevailed, 154-102. This time, although Nina Ninja almost single-handedly kept it close for the ‘Cats, scoring more than 100 points for the day, the Bombshells’ winning combination of strong defense and steady scoring took them one step closer to again appearing in DCRG’s championship bout in May.
For the first jam, the Bombshells sent Jamminy Kricket to face off against the ‘Cats’ Jersey Jill in the first bout DCRG fans would see under new WFTDA rules. With one whistle, everyone was off, including Kricket, who became lead jammer and snagged 4 points in the bout’s first scoring pass. DemonCat Nina Ninja stealthily snuck several times around the track in the next jam—a powerjam with The Ultimate Whorrior sidelined—to score 25. The Bombshells fired right back in the next two jams, courtesy of U-Who and Yankee Scandal, to go up 40-27. At the 20-minute mark, in a jam characterized by a big pileup involving most of the skaters on the track, both teams scored to end up at 52-47. The Bombshells then held the Cats scoreless for the next six jams to steadily increase their lead to 66-47.
At the 13-minute mark, U-Who faced Jersey Jill, and although Jill secured lead jammer, a cut-track penalty allowed U-Who to score 19 to increase CBB’s lead to 85-51. Scoring remained low for the next 10 minutes, with the teams mostly trading hit-and-quits, until the last two jams lit up the scoreboard: first U-Who scored 18 for the Bombshells, then Nina Ninja closed out the half with a 23-point jam (and 72 points for the half) for a halftime score of 121-84, Bombshells.
Second half scoring started slowly, thanks to strong defenses from each side’s heavy hitters: Artemis Conduct and Guantanamo Babe for the Bombshells, and Ms. Judgment and Bruisehilda for the DemonCats. It was no surprise to DemonCat fans in the sixth jam when Nina Ninja took her team’s score over the century mark to make it 134-110, Bombshells. Two jams later was the bout’s only Scandal vs. Vandal face-off, which started with the DemonCats’ Mini Vandal gaining lead jammer status, and ended with Yankee Scandal in the penalty box. Nina Ninja then took advantage of the powerjam, scoring 15 to narrow the point gap to seven, 134-127, while Yankee Scandal found herself in the locker room, ejected on a gross misconduct penalty after taking down another skater when she fell.
But that’s as close as the DemonCats would get, with Kricket and U-Who steadily scoring for the Bombshells, and the Cats’ large jammer rotation, which included Kung Pow Kitten and even Hoova Dayum in addition to Ninja and Jill, unable to make significant dents in the score. In the bout’s last jam, U-Who scored 12 for the Bombshells, to end with a 186-144 victory.
Scare Force One 180 – 167 Majority Whips
By Special Correspondent, Lady Burn Johnson
For the second bout of the evening, the Majority Whips continued their trend of delivering crowd-pleasing nail-biters. Much like last month’s meeting with the Bombshells, this battle against Scare Force One was a back-and-forth slog with multiple lead changes. Although the Whips managed to maintain control of the lead for most of the second half, a late-game powerjam allowed Scare Force to ultimately take the victory.
Scare Force’s early narrow lead was erased in the third jam when jammer Acourta Pain was sent to the box; Whips jammer Slam Grier powered through hit after hit to pick up nine points for a score of 11-8 in favor of her team. The Whips padded that lead with a series of hit-and-quits over the next several jams, bringing the score to 22-12, before Scare Force struck back. Jamming against Deadly Lamarr, the normally wily Dual Hitizen found herself repeatedly knocked to the floor courtesy of Whips & Pains, Velocityraptor and Helena Handbag; with Dual unable to break through the pack, Deadly was able to pick up 16 points and another lead change: 28-22, Scare Force.
Two jams later, the Whips reversed fortune again with a powerjam for Slam Grier; with only Acourta Pain and Condoleezza Slice blocking for Scare Force, Slam had no trouble picking up 20 points to bring the score to 42-22 with just over 15 minutes left in the half. Two jams later, it was Scare Force’s turn with the powerjam; under the direction of captain Velocityraptor, they handled it deftly, giving Marion Barrycuda 13 points and wrestling back the lead at 58-45. Whips jammer Nasty Pelosi followed that up with nine points of her own (thanks to teammates Stabigail Adams and Dual Hitizen, who teamed up to keep Deadly Lamarr in the pack), inching the Whips closer to the lead at 58-54.
The last nine minutes of the half were marked by a rash of penalties on both sides. Scare Force seemed to get the short end of the stick there, often finding themselves with only one blocker on the track. Late in the half, Velocityraptor faced the arduous task of blocking alone against an unopposed Frightmare, who had little problem picking up one of the bout’s biggest powerjams, a 24-pointer that put the Whips solidly on top at 91-65. Two jams later, Nasty Pelosi followed it with a 15-point powerjam of her own, taking the Whips into halftime with a comfortable cushion of 112-68.
Maintaining that lead for the rest of the bout would be a challenge, though. Scare Force wasted no time chipping into it; Sharp Shredder notched her own whopping powerjam minutes into the second half, dodging the hits of Fierce Compredator and Styx & Stones to put up 29 points, bringing the score to 113-100. Holding the Whips scoreless over the next few minutes, Scare Force pushed closer and closer to the lead with a series of hit-and-quit jams. With the score at 113-111, the Whips took a timeout to regroup.
They emerged with a new energy; displaying some impressive feats of footwork, Frightmare and Slam Grier dodged Scare Force’s blockers to pad the lead to 122-111. Deadly Lamarr took advantage of an extra-light Whips pack to bring the Fright Attendants back into striking distance at 122-115, but a revolving penalty box in the next two jams allowed Frightmare and Slam Grier to give the Whips some breathing room again. With just over 10 minutes left to play, the Whips remained on top at 143-127.
That’s when they saw the lead start to slip away, though. Jamming against Nasty Pelosi, Marion Barrycuda earned lead but smartly kept the jam going rather than calling it off after her initial scoring pass. Veteran blockers Helena Handbag, Velocityraptor and Condoleezza Slice managed to keep Nasty trapped in the pack for three more passes, allowing ‘Cuda to pick up a total of 19 points and put Scare Force on top for the first time in the half at 150-147. More Scare Force penalty trouble allowed the Whips to slowly regain the lead; with just three minutes left to play, they found themselves back in contention at 163-156, but a subsequent powerjam would put victory just out of their reach. Skating unopposed, Marion Barrycuda notched 20 points, putting Scare Force ahead at 176-163. Though the next jam ended in a 4-4 tie between Sharp Shredder and Slam Grier, the Whips were out of timeouts that could force one last jam, and the period clock counted down to a Scare Force victory of 180-167.
At the next bout on February 2 at the Armory, the DemonCats will face the Majority Whips, who defeated the ‘Cats in November and are riding high after their near upset of Scare Force One. The Fright Attendants will take on the Bombshells in a rematch of last year’s season championship, with the Bombshells hoping to avenge November’s lopsided loss. Keep track of the schedule and get ticket info at D.C. Rollergirls.com.
