Rocky Mountain Rollergirls (#5) roll over Arizona Roller Derby (#7)

by Shelly Shankya

The sun shone through the windowed pavilion, and the wind from the Bay got Day 2 of 2012 West Region Playoffs off to a strong start, with Rocky Mountain Rollergirls (#5) taking on Arizona Roller Derby (#7).

In the second jam of the game, Rocky Mountain jammer Casstrator took advantage of a power jam situation, scoring 30 points while Arizona jammer Maria Montoya cooled her jets in the box after a major track cut. The third jam also ended up being a power jam for the ladies from Colorado, Sweet Mary Pain scoring 24 more points in the opening five minutes of the bout. And that set the tone for the first half. Three jammers held the rotation for Arizona in the first half, carrying the lion's share of point conversion responsibility for the team. While Arizona struggled to score against the 2010 WFTDA Champions, Rocky Mountain spread the point scoring to six jammers. 

"These days power jams win or lose games," Rocky Mountain skater Frida Beater said. "And we spend  a lot of practice time working to convert power jams and stopping power jams. I'm just glad that we were able to use what we've spent so much time practicing." 

Photo by Jules Doyle

Penalty trouble kept Arizona from putting together a strong defense to hold jammers back, but their bridges slowed down Rocky Mountain's point accumulation. Arizona's short numbers in the pack made mounting an offense difficult, as well. Despite the troubles, the ladies in pink, Arizona's Tent City Terrors, used the crowd's enthusiasm to fight their way to the end of the first. The half ended with a score of 123-42 in favor of Rocky Mountain. 

While the two teams traded power jams in the first half, the jammers largely stayed out of the box during the second. That wasn't the case for blockers, however. With 19:11 left in the game, Arizona blocker Deez Nutz fouled out. Rocky held Arizona from scoring any points from the fifth jam to the sixteenth, and Sweet Mary Pain's 32-point power jam made the gap insurmountable, despite Pain being sent to the box for a major back block. Luz Chaos came in during the seventeenth jam to add 19 points to Arizona's tally. Chaos's toe-stop skills kept her in bounds and kept the crowd in awe. Rocky was able to grab lead jammer for the bulk of the second, however, and they used the star-power to run the clock down and keep Arizona from building any kind of momentum. 

"We feel really good about this morning's game. We played our game, and we tightened things up from yesterday's loss (against the Oly Rollers). We're really looking forward to playing more this weekend and to continue working on things. We've got a lot respect for AZRD. They're a physical team who lands hard hits, and they play with a lot of heart," Frida Beater, sporting pink Arizona panties, said. 

Rocky Mountain Rollergirls (#5) 279
Arizona Roller Derby (#7) 76