Asheville, NC

By Beth Row

Penalties and a strong performance by the Steel Hurtin' created a very one-sided Game 11 in the 2013 D1 Playoffs in Asheville, North Carolina. Oklahoma Victory Dolls from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, found themselves on the wrong side of too many power jams as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s Steel City Roller Derby capitalized for the win.

Steel City’s Snot Rocket Science busted out first for lead jam and four points. OK followed it up with two lead jams of their own but were only able to win 2 points total. Snot used one of her trademark spin moves to pick up 3 points for a 7-2 Steel lead.

Jennifer M. Ramos

In what would be the first power jam of many for Steel City, Ka Kaw back blocked her way to the penalty box. Snot Rocket Science took advantage and the score moved to 32-2. Steel City rolled on for five straight lead jams to make the score 49-2 with just over 20 minutes left in the first half.

Oklahoma’s blockers continued to rotate into the penalty box. Oklahoma took a timeout, but they continued to play with abbreviated packs due to penalties. Oklahoma’s jammers were no stranger to the box either as Jammin’ Jane was sent the box for a track cut, extending Steel City’s lead. Just as Jammin Jane made her way out of the box, she cut the track again and was sent back to the penalty box, giving Steel City 2 full minutes without an opposing jammer. With 13 minutes left in the first half, Steel City had bumped up their lead 121-5.

Czech 1-2 was able to gain some ground for Oklahoma. She fought her way to a 133-17 score, while OK’s defense held River Kyx back. Dolly Dynamite was sent to the box for low blocking a Steel City back wall, after Steel City’s Athena placed an illegal hit on her. Both ended up in the box and Snot Rocket Science once again had a power jam. Snot Rocket Science put up another 20 points to make it 157-17. Steel City continued to dominate Dolly Dynamite when she was released from the box. Steel City repeated the brutalizing defense on Ka Kaw for a 170-17 lead as the half wound down.

The first power jam of the first half for Oklahoma, happened with Snot Rocket Science going to the box on a back block after picking up lead jammer status over Dolly Dynamite. At the jam’s conclusion, both jammers were out of the box and the halftime score was 179-45.

Bjorn picked up 4 points at the start of the second half over Snot Rocket Science. Czech 1-2 got lead jammer status the very next jam, but called it off after Leannibal Lector escaped the pack right behind her. Dolly Dynamite picked up the lead jam for the 3rd jam in a row and the added to the score, 186-57 with 26:50 left.

But the string of lead jammer status would end there for Oklahoma. Bjorn was boxed for a track cut for the first power jam in the second half. River Kyx pushed the score to 201-57. Both teams continued the fast paced-packs and the jammers raced for a few points each. Ka Kaw was stymied by Snot Rocket Science and Athena while Hurricane Heather picked up even more points for Steel City. Steel City continued to control the pace and the score as Bjorn picked up another track cut and River Kyx landed a power jam. The score was 250-59 Steel City with under 16 minutes.

Steel had been playing a relatively clean game, but picked up a technical penalty. The head ref issued a penalty to Steel’s pivot as the bench coach entered the penalty box to talk to her players. It didn’t seem to affect the players on the track as Steel City forced a track cut on Dolly Dynamite and ran up the score even more. Steel City reached the 300 mark with a little more than 2 minutes to go with 300-67. On the last jam of the game, Bjorn exited the pack first but was not lead jammer. She continued to put points on the board until River Kyx obtained lead jam and called it off. Final score was 313-79.

“I think we were able to take the momentum from the first game and keep doing the things that worked for us,” said Steel City Captain Ally McKill. The Oklahoma game was Steel City’s second game of the day, following a win over Columbia Quad Squad in the morning. “Even though this was a different team than before, they were still a really physical team. They were super physical and I loved playing them.”

final score

(9) Oklahoma Victory Dolls 79
(5) Steel City Roller Derby 313

Steel will play the Houston for 5th place. Oklahoma will play Nashville for 7th place.