Wasatch (#9) upsets Arizona (#7) to take 9th place

By Shelly Shankya

The ninth place bout between Arizona Roller Derby (#7) and Wasatch Roller Derby (#9) started off at Day 3 of Bay of Reckoning at the Craneway Pavilion. The first half was a back-and-forth of lead changes between the AZRD Tent City Terrors and the Wasatch Midnight Terror. Wasatch established a lead after the initial jams for the majority of the first, but Arizona regrouped in the last few jams, taking the lead in the 21st jam of the period and carrying that through the half, 78-69.

Photo by Donalee Eiri, Photography by D.E.sign

Notable blockers for Wasatch were Skull Candi, who both blocked in the first and jammed in the second. She was able to maneuver and hold Arizona jammers to give her jammer a grand slam on more than one occasion. FlyGrrl Mel also had strong jammer hold times, and in the twelfth jam was able to hold Arizona jammer Kiki UrHaz long enough to force a cut-track minor.

"We had to stay focused and stay together," Wasatch blocker and captain Skatey Gaga said. "Our best games are when we stay together. Arizona did a great job of breaking up our walls, and we had to fix that. We just wanted to make sure we stayed strong before their jammers hit the back of the pack. We made some solid adjustments at the half."

Arizona held a nine-point lead over Wasatch going in to the half, but the 15-minute break gave Wasatch the time to recalibrate their plans and, after Arizona jammer Luz Chaos got sent to the box for a major forearm and then an extra minute for insubordination, the team grabbed a major lead change. The momentum shift in the second set the tone for Wasatch, and they pushed past Arizona by more than 100 points.

Each team lost one player to foul-outs; Wasatch lost FlyGrrl Mel and Arizona lost blocker Maria Montoya. Silence descended over the pavilion when Arizona Ovary Z took a fall after a low block that required a wheelchair to carry her off the track. By that point, the seventeenth jam, the point spread was too wide for Arizona to bridge it, and the ladies from Wasatch sealed the win, 245-134.

"We're so glad to have played at this tournament [the team's first]. It's been great to experience these higher caliber games, and we've learned how much we have to change things up between games," Skatey Gaga said.

Wasatch finishes the West Region Playoffs where they started, in 9th place, and Arizona finishes in 10th place.

Wasatch Roller Derby (#9) 245 - 9th Place
Arizona Roller Derby (#7) 134 - 10th Place