By Peter Cozine
Rat City took a trip back to their roots on February 23rd, heading to Southgate Roller Rink in White Center for their third bout of the season. It was clear fans were looking forward to being close to the action, as before the doors opened, the line waiting for entry was out the door and around the block. After the doors opened, there was some serious energy in the air as took their seats to watch the Throttle Rockets try to put up their first win of the season going against the Derby Liberation Front, followed by Grave Danger play this year’s revitalized Sockit Wenches. Over 400 fans, skaters, officials, and volunteers filled the roller rink to watch the Rat City Rollergirls bout on the wooden skate floor, and they were rewarded with quite the evening of derby.
Derby Liberation Front 139, Throttle Rockets 122
The Throttle Rockets started out with some explosive offense early in the first half, not only gaining lead jammer in 5 of the first 7 jams, but capitalizing on the opportunities to put up an early lead. With their blockers also playing cohesively, they managed to keep that lead up until the 9th jam, when DLF captain Full Nelson was able to break through with 4 points to put DLF up by 2, and give them their first lead of the game. Both teams proceeded to send jammers to the penalty box multiple times through the rest of the half, but fortunately their blockers responded and put together strong defenses. As a result, the two teams together added only a total of 9 points to the scoreboard during those power jams. Toward the end of the half, the Throttle Rockets had their offense click with a late rally, allowing them to head to the break on top, 57-43.
The second half started with another pair of power jams – but this time, the defense wasn’t able to hold things back. DLF jammer Full Nelson broke out first with a 17 point power jam to give her team a the lead. Soon afterwards, the Throttle Rockets were given their chance, with a 20 point power jam from Luna Negra, bringing the score to 60-59 in favor of the Rockets. Both teams got their blockers in gear, and defense dominated the rest of the half, keeping the scoring fairly low. Led by the dynamic skating of Kamikaze Kim, DLF was able to push back into the lead toward the end of the half, and held on to it fairly soundly through the last five jams of the game, with a final score was 139-122.
With a win in this bout, the Derby Liberation Front has put themselves in a position to compete for the Rat City Championship, while the Throttle Rockets have fallen out of the running, and will be competing in the consolation bout on May 11th.
| Scoring Recap | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Derby Liberation Front | Throttle Rockets | ||
| #0 Kamikaze Kim | 66 | #911 Luna Negra | 47 |
| #123 Full Nelson | 35 | #1618 Sintripetal Force | 40 |
| #33 Kimball Machine | 20 | #339 Panda Beer | 26 |
Grave Danger 218, Sockit Wenches 144
In the second bout of the evening, Grave Danger leapt to an quick lead, as the Wenches’ jammer went to the box early in the game’s very first jam. Carmen Getsome capitalized on the power jam, putting up 15 points to start off, and setting the tone. Danger kept up with the pace, winning lead jammer in 8 of the first 10 jams, and putting up the points to show for it. Sockit Wenches Veteran blocker Anya Heels put on the jammer cap twice in the half, and while managing to win lead jammer both times, that wasn’t enough to stop the momentum. Grave Danger continued to build off of their early lead, racking up a 60-point lead by the end of the first half.
At half time the Sockit Wenches made some great adjustments, as they came out of the locker room revitalized. The jammer rotation of Sami Automatic, Belle Tolls, Rawkhell SqWelch, and Penny Racer went to work against the hard-hitting Danger blockers, and began to chip away at the large point deficit they were facing. Meanwhile, Danger relied on their stars Carmen Getsome, D’evil’D Meggs, and Nehi Nightmare to do the majority of the jamming.
The Wenches playe a much tighter game in the second half, scoring 82 points to Danger’s 96, but it wasn’t enough to against the ladies in red. Sockit Wench rookie Rawkhell SqWelch had a great bout, grabbing lead jammer in all of her first half jams, and scoring a total of 36 points to help her team battle back against an impressive Grave Danger team. Meanwhile, Carmen Getsome demonstrated why she is one of the league’s most dominant players, putting up a total of 101 points in Danger’s 218-144 win.
The fans enjoyed seeing the Sockit Wenches play such a tight second half and, as always, cheering for Grave Danger, the Rat City reigning champions. This win improves Danger’s chances of playing in the championship bout in May, and means the Sockit Wenches must win in April over DLF to have a chance to fight for the trophy.
| Scoring Recap | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Grave Danger | Sockit Wenches | ||
| #12 Carmen Getsome | 101 | #357 Sami Automatic | 43 |
| #187 Kutta Betch | 49 | #761 Rawkhell SqWelch | 36 |
| #88 D’evil’D Meggs | 30 | #4 Belle Tolls | 33 |