Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Denver jammers fly high to edge Charm City, 268-141

Denver’s Mile High Roller Dolls and Charm City (Baltimore) Roller Girls kicked off the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association’s Championship Tournament on Friday, Nov. 2, 2012, with the first bout of the weekend. 

Denver posted a 9-3 season heading into the tournament with a loss to Oly in the Western Region Playoff to earn the second seed. Charm’s 8-4 record included losses to East Region rivals Montreal, Philly and 2011 champions, Gotham, and edged London Rollergirls by 24 points to earn the third seed from the East.

Denver jammers Heather Juska (303) and Sandrine Rangeon (24) sprinted to a 24-0 lead after Charm City’s IM Pain (1618) was boxed for a Cut Major, and the Mile High team capitalized by earning lead, gaining points and calling the jam, keeping Pain in the penalty box through the third jam.

The penalty luck looked to swing in Charm’s favor after Julie Adams (19) would be penalized for a Cut Major, as Crowella Devil (101) managed to pick up 14 points before being boxed for a Forearm Major, thanks to Denver’s front three-wall of Suzie Long (831), Ariel Quicley (1982), and Krisana Barrett (28) working hard to counter Charm’s passive offense, to Adams’s 9 points..

Charm’s front wall contained Denver’s Rangeon to 2 points in the 5th jam, utilizing what was called a Ladder, a front-wall that bridged every 9 or 10 feet to allow the blockers to continue blocking the opposing jammer.

Charm and Denver traded 4-point jams, before Charm called a Team Time Out at 21:21, the score 39-18 in favor of Denver.

Adams would earn Lead Jammer quickly in Jam 8, but was boxed on a Cut Major 30 seconds into the jam, while Pain picked up 25 points before Adams would be released from the penalty box, and earned an additional 9 points after Adams’ release, for a 34-8 point swing in Charm’s favor.

An Official Time Out stops the clock at 18:50 in the first half, the score now favoring Charm 47-52 on the back of Pain’s monster jam.

Jam Eight began with Denver players Quicley and Deirdre Sage (5) and Charm players Battery Operated (2AA) and Free Radical (8) in the box, for a two-on-two pack. Charm took the back two-wall defending against Rangeon, as DeVil snuck through to the front to push the No Pack call. DeVil was called for an Illegal Procedure minor at the start of the jam, which was later upgraded to a Major 14 seconds into the jam giving Denver the advantage. Denver’s Rangeon earned 4-5-5-5-5-4 jam before time was called to DeVil’s lone score pass of 4 points, putting Mile High back in the lead, 75-56.

Denver was on a mission to lock the game down before the half, earning Lead Jammer 14 times in 16 jams, with a distinct 78-11 point swing, simply by getting LJ, earning points and calling the jam off.

The scoring drought continued in the second half for Charm, held to 11 points in the first 15 minutes as Mile High stretched their lead to 224-84.

A determined Baltimore team refused to give up and managed to edge point swings in their favor thanks to Denver penalties. Pain scored 24 points in the jam 16 of the second half on a Rangeon penalty. In jam 18 Holden Grudges (63) scored 19 points after Adams was boxed for a Lowblock Major, notching the score at 229-130.

With less than six minutes to go, Charm’s Jam Ref, the Shoveler, makes an unpopular point reporting, awarding Allie B Back (T2) zero points, as the crowd lets him know how they feel with a chorus of boos.

Charm never put up much of a threat against Denver as time wound down, and the mental errors hurt Baltimore. Lining up in the 23rd jam of the second half, Charm’s Battery took an Intentional Fourth Minor, shortening the pack to dangerous proportions after her bench failed to field a blocker, leaving only two defenders against Mile High’s Adams.

With Denver holding a monsterous lead over the team in yellow, Shaina Serelson earned lead, picked up 4-5-5-5 and successfully called the jam after DeVil was boxed for a Cut Major, ending the bout 268-141. The Mile High win pitted Denver against the No. 1 seed from the North Central, Windy City, during the second round bouts on Saturday.

Bay Area sticks it to Teflon Donna, V-Diva; BAD ends Philly’s Championship run

Game Four of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association’s Champion Tournament on Friday paired up the Philly Liberty Belles, the Eastern Region’s No. 2 seed, against the No. 3 seed from the West, Bay Area Derby Girls. 

Bay Area brought a 8-3 2012 record into the tournament, including a 229-point win against Sacred City in a bout during the down time between the Western Region and Championship tournaments. Philly posted a 12-4 record previous to Friday. 

Philly would draw first blood in the second jam with a quick 4 points and a successful call off, however the BAD defense would close down Teflon Donna (85) for subsequent grand slams to swing the lead back in Bay Area’s favor, 10-4.

The Liberty Belles took a team Time Out at 24:12 left in the first half, after Chantilly Mace and Ivy Profane would snag back-to-back 4-point jams, pushing the score to 5-14.

Philly lined up Donna behind the jam line against Nock Nock (32), but BAD managed to get a quick Lead Jammer at 10 seconds into the jam. As Nock Nock spun around the track for a couple grand slams, Philly would swap some blockers in the box and transition straight into the Runaway Kitty, in which the team that isn’t lead gets to the front of the pack and begins skating as fast as they can, with 70 seconds to go in the jam. Nock Nock took her time to free a boxed blocker, as BAD was facing a 3-2 pack disadvantage. With an additional four points, Nock Nock extends the Bay Area lead to 5-18.

V-Diva (1818) got lead and earned the first points in about four jams.

Neither team made significant strides until BAD’s Lulu Lockjaw (21) would gain Lead and capitalize on Philly’s jammer Antidote (100) Cut Major penalty with 1:40 remaining in the jam. BAD transitions to Passive Offense, remaining stationary and allowing the jammer to push the opposition Out of Play, and Lulu would score four grand slams, to score 20 points and put the score at 23-56 in Bay Area’s favor.

In the 15th jam, V-Diva toe-stop side-shuffled through a scrum start to pick up the LJ in 10 seconds, and she would score 2 points by passing one Bay Area blocker and picking up the Ghost Point on a boxed BAD skater.

Bay scrummed in the start for the 16th Jam to capitalize on a three on three pack, and force penalties on Philly. Teflon Donna was forced to fight against a BAD’s pack of 505, 7, 1 and 828, holding the Belle’s jammer to an initial pass for 1:43 of the jam. Meanwhile Nock Nock swung the lead to 25-74.

Philly swung back when Nock Nock lost lead after getting boxed for a Back Block Major with 1:09 remaining in the jam. Donna escaped her first pass with less than a minute remaining, nab two grandslams and a pass for three points as time would expire on the Jam Clock and Nock Nock’s penalty minute, matched by Nock Nock’s grandslam earlier and the 3 points she had earned before heading to the penalty box.

The energized Belles put BAD on the defensive after earning LJ and points in back-to-back-to-back jams, cutting the distance to 59-91, and closing out the first half.

V-Diva took an Intentional Fourth Minor, as Donna and Mace wore the stars for their respective teams. Teflon Donna got out first but not clean, giving Mace the opportunity to earn LJ, which she did and she called it with a minute left in the penalty. While no points were called, the calloff actually kept V-Diva in the penalty box a little longer and forced Donna to jam again in the subsequent jam.

Both teams traded points back and forth for a few jams, until Philly called another Team Timeout at 24:50 after V-Diva and Mo Pain (8) managed to put 7 points on the board, cutting BAD’s lead to 29 points.

Fresh off the bench, V-Diva skated to an 8-0 jam with 23 minutes and change left. Pain earned lead and get 3 before successfully calling the jam to further cut the Philly deficit to 18 points.

With a bit more than 22 minutes left in the game, the refs boxed Nock Nock for a Back Block Major 0:25 into the jam, and V-Diva also be boxed for a Cut Major at the 0:28 mark as she began to exit the pack on her first pass. V-Diva would get to the box first, getting sprung as Nock Nock sits, but neither waited very long before jumping back into the pack. A Belles three-wall held back Nock Nock long enough for V-Diva to complete her initial pass and begin her scoring run. BAD managed a 9-4 point swing after the jam expires on time.

Lulu Lockjaw put up 8 points on the board, helping BAD pull away a bit, 84-115.

Philly’s Antidote (100) and Donna swung back with 4 point jams apiece, edging closer, 95-115.

BAD capitalized on a penalty on Philly jammer V-Diva, who was called out for a Cut Major and sitting with 1:31 remaining in the jam. Nock Nock picked up two grandslams before calling it with penalty time remaining for V-Diva and force the Belles jammer to start the next jam in the box. Mace would turn around and put 14 points on the board for Bay Area.

Time worked against Philly with over 10 minutes remaining in the game, as the Belles weren’t able to capitalize, only earning 17 points to BAD’s 19 points to skate to a 119-169 win for Bay Area. BAD advanced to the second round of the tournament for the first time, to play the South Central’s No. 1 seed Texas.