The Rat City Rollergirls’ All-Star team (AST) won last Saturday’s (June 7) bout against the Everett based Jet City Bombers 258-119 in a match that was pretty much standard fare.
After seven jams it was AST up 36-4. After twelve the visitors took their only lead of the bout 53-44. They next sent jammer Whoa Nellie! (#39) out to increase that lead but AST blockers Missile America (#321) and Wreck N Shrew (#24) had other ideas. Whoa Nellie! was penned in, walled out and eventually dumped soundly. Anymore scoring against AST was going to be hard earned. Meanwhile Sintripetal Force (#1618) picked up nine for AST to bring them even, 53-53.
The Bombers put an enormous line on the track, massive from side to side. Anchored by Jude O’Chop (#0), a wide body whose agility made her doubly tough to pass or block, and including Sin Gria (#44) and Chantilly Cream (#31), it tested AST jammers the entire bout.
After 23 minutes in the first half AST had 21 penalties, the Bombers, 9. Bombers Coach Tre Le Trash attributed the penalty imbalance to AST’s efforts to combat his teams size and skill. “They were trying to move us around. We’re a big team,” he said.
Sintripetal Force, who lead all scorers for the night with 87 points, picked up 22 in jam 16 by just out-juking the Bombers line while Teddy Rupp (#505) and Carmen Getsome (#12) created passing openings. Both blockers also played a role in planting Bomber jammer Momma Wreck N Ball (#11), shutting her out for the jam.
The pattern for the rest of the bout was set in the next jam. Shorty Ounce (#14) and P. Wilhelm (#9) confined Momma Wreck N Ball, holding her to no points, while AST jammer Full Nelson (#123) grabbed the lead in ten feet, made three passes and built the margin to 104-65.
AST jammers were physically assaulted throughout the bout, but continued to get up, shake their hits off and add points. The second half opened with jammer Luna Negra (#911) leading the pack after three seconds but taking a solid shoulder from Bomber Nasty Nikki Nightstick (#12) on her first pass and going down hard. Back on her skates she added nine points. Defensively AST was playing textbook. Carmen Getsome recycled Bomber jammer Ivana Hercha (#5) twice. Ivana passed her star to Spontaneous Combustya (#8) who was promptly hipped out of bounds by Ophelia Melons (#88) and recycled again.
By the tenth jam of the second half AST had a firm grip on the bout, leading 195-105. Blockers Teddy Rupp, P. Wilhelm, Shorty Ounce and Carmen Getsome dished out punishment to the quickly tiring Bombers line while their jammers piled up points in chunks. Sintripetal Force with 19 in jam nine and another 18 in jam ten, Rawkhell SqWelch (#761) with 25 in jam 12 and another 25 in jam 16.
Rawkhell SqWelch’s strong second half scoring (all 75 or her points came in the final 30 minutes) came after she was shut out in the first half. Maybe knocked out better describes it. She was the first jammer in the bout but, at 28 seconds, took a hard shoulder to the face and crashed. The jam was stopped. It was five minutes before she was able to leave the track on her skates. She returned for two more jams in that half, was shut out in both. By the second half the cobwebs had cleared and she extracted her revenge.
Penalties continued to add up against AST. Two thirds of the way through the second half they had 39, twenty more than the Bombers. But their aggressive play was taking its toll. Bombers Coach Tre Le Trash identified what was happening. “Rat City was in superior shape,” he said, “and their conditioning really showed in the second half.”
In addition to Sintripetal’s 87 and SqWelch’s 75 three other jammers added points for AST. Lune Negra had 52, Full Nelson, 31 and Carmen Getsome, 13. Ivana Hercha led the Bombers with 42. She was followed by Whoa Nellie! with 32, Momma Wreck N Ball, 25, Spontaneous Combustya, 17, and Sin Gria, 3.
The Bombers elected AST’s P. Wilhelm as the opponent’s Most Valuable Player. AST selected Bomber’s blocker Beelzababe.