Time for the post game show. What happened in bite sized chunks. As there is so much to cover, I'll break it up into several posts this week. The first is what I think is the biggest story, then the best bouts.
There are several stories for the Western Regionals, but I think the most impressive is that the Houston Roller Derby folks pulled off 20 bouts in three days with minor scheduling issues, no major problems, a week after thier season championship and two weeks after a hurricane hit and left much of the town without power. WOW!!! Hats freakin' off to the HRD crew, the Derby Brothers and everyone associated with this years Western Regionals. Roller derby may be DIY, but it continues to be one of the most coordinated organizations around. OK. Gushing over.
The best bouts were the Duke City Derby (9w) upset of the Kansas City Roller Warriors (1w), only surpassed by another nail-biter between the Rat City Roller Girls and the Texas Roller Girls with Texas finally getting the win.
Kansas City was caught by a disciplined skilled group of the scrappiest skaters you'll ever meet. Duke City jumped out to an early lead with it DCD 27, KCRW 5 after Jam #5 due to Kansas consistently filling the Penalty Box, and Duke taking advantage. KCRW seemed to struggle with contact outside the engagement zone (20' from the pack) on a regular basis. Duke City did an amazing defensive job of holding up the KCRW jammer lap after lap, even when their own jammer was in the Box. At the end of Period #1, it was DCD 62, KCRW 59. In the second period, KCRW would take the lead for the first time in the 3rd jam of the period, DCD 67, KCRW 72. Duke City fought back including some incredible jamming by Muffin and Kamikaze Kim. Duke regained the lead in the 6th jam, DCD 90, KCRW 77. The Kansas team closed it to 6 points by Jam #11, including a 10-2 jam by thier new star, Hall Balls over Muffin. The crowd was clearly waiting to see if DCD could hold on, or whether KCRW had finally sorted it out. This was answered in Jam #12 of P2 with a 14-0 jam by Muffin over Jade Lightning. Duke would not look back and at the end it was DCD 132, KCRW 117. Duke City Derby had earned thier place at the Nationals by upsetting the #1 seed Kansas City Roller Warriors.
As amazing as Duke's win was, a Texas Rollergirls v. Rat City Rollergirls bout always promises to be crazy. Thier match at the Western Regionals delivered. These teams have a rivalry as Rat City defeated Texas at the Dust Devil 2007 Western Regional, knocking them to the 3rd seed for Nationals. Then they met again at Nationals, where Rat City won again eliminating Texas from contention for the championship. Both teams were primed to continue this rivalry. With both winning thier first bout, Rat City beating Tucson, and Texas beating Rocky Mountain, they were bouting again for a chance at the Western Championship 2008. The bout started with each team sizing each other up. No significant jams until Miss Fortune (RCRG) had a 12-0 jam over Olivia Shootin' John (TXRG) in Jam #5, making it TXRG 5, RCRG 21. Texas would roar back and tie it with Rice Rocket goint 14-0 over Valtron 3000 in Jam #7, TXRG 21, RCRG 21. The hits were brutal and the points scarce or in short bursts due to foul advantage. At the end of the first period, it's TXRG 47, RCRG 59. Rat City continued to use thier deep jammer rotation of 8 jammers against TXRG primary rotation of Bloody Mary and Rice Rocket with assists from 4 other jammers. Rat City continued to build a lead in the second period. At one point, RCRG player Juliet Bravo was ejected for too many fouls. The constant foul trouble for skaters is another story from the Regionals I'll cover in a later post.
After 10 jams in Period #2, the Rat City gals had build a 16 point lead over Texas, TXRG 66, RCRG 82. With the difficulty in scoring, this seemed a huge lead. Morphine got the turnaround going in Jam #11 of P2, with a 10-0 jam over Ann R Kissed. Then Lucille Brawl went 5-3 against Femme Fatale. In Jam #13, Bloody Mary goes 4-0 against Miss Fortune, and it's tied, TXRG 85, RCRG 85. The momentum had shifted and the TXRG was handling the penalty situation a bit better than RCRG. After the 16th jam of P2, TXRG was holding onto a 3 point lead, TXRG 93-90. The teams stalemate in Jam #17, 4-4, and then TXRG holds RCRG scoreless in the last two jams while Bloody Mary and Rice Rocket combine for 11 more. Texas holds on and finally beats the Rat City Rollergirls, TXRG 108, RCRG 94. Bedlam ensues.
The boutcasts for these matches are archived at the Derby News Network website. Check'm out to follow every moment.
More to come,
Don Bombshelter
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