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Rat City Rollergirls Season 5, Bout 1 Recap
by Elwood Bruise

Grave Danger vs. Sockit Wenches

The game started out evenly enough early on as both teams took a couple of turns swapping leads. Although things weren’t helped out much for either squad as there were two jammerless-jams within the first 5 runs. With the score sitting at 17-15 in favor of the Wenches after 5 jams, Grave Danger threw the first big punch of the night as GD jammer Georgia O’Grief was able to earn lead jammer and take advantage of Wenches jammer Nasty Trick’s trip to the penalty box by wrapping up a 13-0 decision. After that, both teams clamped down defensively (including a stellar 8^th jam in which neither jammer was able to escape the pack for the entire two minutes) over the next five jams. Over that five jam period, the Wenches were able to chop 4 points off the Grave Danger lead. But the real turning point in this first half came in jams 12 and 13. In those two jams, Danger jammer Riot Act spent a decent amount of time in the sin bin. And while she was there, she got to watch Wenches jammers Swede Hurt and Juliet Bravo skate away with identical 15-0 runs that gave the Wenches a 59-36 lead. Over the final four jams of the first half, the Sockit Wenches were able to extend that lead out by 2 more points. Heading into the locker room after the first half, the Wenches held a solid 74-49 lead.

And things got a lot worse for Grave Danger in the second half before they started getting better. Beginning with Swede Hurt’s 9-1 decision in the first jam over Katarina Whip, the Wenches opened the second half by going on a 24-9 run over the first seven jams. But in the 8^th jam, Carmen Getsome put the jammers cap on her helmet and did her best to get Grave Danger back into the game. Early on in the jam, she managed to eliminate the mighty Wenches jammer Anya Heels with a good take-out during the initial pass. Even though Anya eventually got lead jammer, she still couldn’t answer to Getsome’s 14-0 scoreboard pounding which pulled GD back to within 26 points. Over the next two jams, the Wenches eliminated that score when Nasty Trick was able to pick up a nice little 3-0 run, followed up by Anya Heels monster 12-0 run in the 10^th jam.

This is when Grave Danger came back to life. Over the next five jams, the Danger blockers held the Wenches jammers to one measly point. Meanwhile, Carmen Getsome went absolutely wild as a jammer for Grave Danger. In the 11^th jam, she tacked a 15-0 tally onto the jumbotron. The jam after that, Katarina Whip kept that momentum going GD’s way as she collected a pair of grand slams for a 10-0 decision over Wile E. Peyote. Things got worse for the Wenches as Peyote had to start the next jam in the penalty box with the jammers cap on. It was probably all the more painful for her when she noticed Carmen Getsome on the line with the red jammers panty on her lid. During that initial pass, Danger blocker Lisa Lawless executed a text book block that cleared the path for Getsome to earn lead jammer and collect another huge jam, this time with the damage reading 9-0. Over that three jam period, Grave Danger had gone on a 34-0 scoring run and pulled back to within 7 points.

In the 14^th jam of the second half, Wile E. Peyote did manage to take home a 1-0 decision for the Wenches. But then in the 15^th jam, things got a little weird. For whatever reason, the Sockit Wenches weren’t able to get a jammer to the line in time for the start of the jam. Carmen Getsome did get there in time, though. And she made quite a bit out of it as she was able to collect 7 points and pull Grave Danger back to within one point with time running out on the clock. However, the jam was called when Carmen was waved off to the penalty box, thus creating a jammerless-jam.

Now, I’m not exactly sure if there is a rule for a situation like this or not. Although I do have the WFTDA rules here on my computer, I’m a little too lazy to go through and try to find the solution to this problem (if there is one). However, I can say that three weeks ago in Hermiston, OR the same exact situation came up. In that game, the Trampires didn’t get a jammer to the line for a jam. And during the course of that jam, the Atomic City jammer was sent off to the box, creating that jammerless jam. But in that instance, Atomic City was able to substitute one of their blockers in order to be the new jammer, while the Trampires were able to take one of the skaters who was on the track at the time and let her be the jammer in the next jam, too.

But in this instance, that didn’t happen. Getsome was sitting in the penalty box with the jammers cap still on her head while the Wenches put Juliet Bravo out on the jammers line. I don’t know if there was a line change there since I was busy scribbling stuff in my notebook, so I couldn’t report on that exact part of the entire situation. Between these two exact same situations, I don’t know which solution was right or which one was wrong. But they were two completely different solutions to the same problem.

Still, the two teams had to play the hands that they were dealt. And the Wenches blockers made the most out of that hand as they were able to spring Bravo loose for a 7-0 lead jammer decision as time ran out on the clock. The final score from the first bout in the KeyArena was Sockit Wenches 121, Grave Danger 113.

Three Stars

3. Swede Hurt. A nice debut for the Jet City transfer. According to what I have here, she was able to rack up 38 points as a jammer in 6 scoring runs. Of course, odds are she isn’t the solution for the injured Miss Fortune. But without her jamming effort, odds are the Wenches may not have faired as well in this one.

2. Carmen Getsome. 8 jams. 61 points. Not good enough for ya? Then I also ask you to take a gander at her 5 blocked jammers on the night, too. She scored more than half of her teams points while putting the jammers cap on in about 25% of the jams run on the night.

1. Anya Heels. It’s not much of a surprise that she starts this season out here on the “three stars” list again. Unless things change this year, I have a pretty good hunch that she is the best player in the nation not on their leagues all-star team. She scored 31 points in 5 runs as a jammer. But that’s not her usual gig. Blocking is. And she had a great night (as usual) within the pack by collecting 15 blocked jammers and delivering 3 big hits.

Key Jam of the Game

Really, it has to be the final two jams of the bout. With the Wenches not being able to get their jammer out onto the line, they dodged a huge bullet as Carmen Getsome fell one point short of tying the game up. Then with whatever happened after that, the Wenches being able to pull off that 7-0 run to cap things off.

Bad Girl of the Game

The Sockit Wenches Rebel Belle earned 6 minutes of penalty time in this one, and was also ejected in the first half for collecting 4 majors.

Stats

Jamming

Grave Danger (Jams-Lead Jammer-Points Scored)

Carmen Getsome (8-6-61)
Georgia O’Grief (7-5-24)
Killer Bee-otch (2-0-4)
Katarina Whip (6-1-19)
Jinx (4-0-5)
Riot Act (3-0-0)
Della Terious (2-0-0)

Sockit Wenches (Jams-Lead Jammer-Points Scored)

Swede Hurt (6-4-38)
Juliet Bravo (6-3-30)
Rebel Belle (3-0-4)
Anya Heels (5-4-31)
Nasty Trick (5-0-11)
Trouble Love Mimi (1-0-0)
Ima Handful (1-0-0)
Wile E. Peyote (4-1-5)

Blocking

Grave Danger (Blocked Jammers-Open Holes-Big Hits)

Carmen Getsome (5-0-0)
Katarina Whip (2-0-1)
Georgia O’Grief (3-0-1)
Jinx (0-1-0)
Killer Bee-otch (0-1-0)
Lisa Lawless (3-1-0)
Mona Lethal (3-0-2)
Sheeza Brickhouse (8-2-1)
Rosie Revenge (3-0-0)
Sara Problem (2-0-0)
Scarlet Leather (2-1-0)

Sockit Wenches (Blocked Jammers-Open Holes-Big Hits)

Juliet Bravo (4-1-1)
Anya Heels (15-0-3)
Caddie Smack (0-1-0)
Ima Handful (0-1-0)
Moe Ya Down (2-1-0)
Nasty Trick (0-1-0)
Sassy Chassis (2-0-0)
Shovey Chase (4-0-2)
Swede Hurt (1-0-1)
Trouble Loves Mimi (1-1-0)
Wile E. Peyote (10-0-3)

Penalties

Grave Danger (PIM)

Carmen Get some (4)
Katarina Whip (3)
Bruise Lee (1)
Della Terious (1)
Georgia O’Grief (4)
Jinx (1)
Killer Bee-otch (2)
Lisa Lawless (2)
Mona Lethal (4)
Sheeza Brickhouse (1)
Riot Act (2)
Rosie Revenge (5)
Sara Problem (3)
Scarlet Leather (3)

Sockit Wenches (PIM)

Juliet Bravo (4)
Anya Heels (4)
Caddie Smack (1)
Ima Handful (1)
Moe Ya Down (2)
Nasty Trick (1)
Rebel Belle (6...ejected 1^st period)
Sassy Chassis (3)
Shovey Chase (3)
Swede Hurt (1)
Wile E. Peyote (2)

Sweden was great, I have my family and my bestest friend in the whole world there.
I had a birthday party together with my amazing stepdad and ice-skated, shopped, cross-country skied, roller-skated vertramp with the Stockholm Derby Girls, laughed, danced, cried, went on long walks, made soup, talked about the future, kissed and told , found out one of my close friends was preggo, another very important person in my life had married (I am still recovering from that)... so much happened in those three weeks... I missed Seattle and it was really painful to be away from my new team and close Seattle friends.

But for once I decided that this trip was important for my sanity, my family deserved some quality time and so did I and now I am back with more motivation and smiles than in a long looong time... maybe some tears once in a while...

Off the flight I got to see two of the awesomest girls I know and was brought to Wendys and Tullys... I'm looking forward to L-word watching...
Later the bestest petowners (I am their pet) of Seattle came and picked me up and brought me to Everett for Speed and Conditioning. I FINALLY was skating and turing left for the first time in THREE WEEKS... and I fell backwards, but it was fun... and skating after not sleeping for 24h might not be the best... BUT I LOVED IT, and can't wait going to practice with the Wenches...

It is always so weird, I am happy to be back but sad to be gone!