Fort Wayne, IN

Wasatch takes 7th, Cincinnati finishes 8th

By Whacks Poetic

Wasatch Roller Derby, from Salt Lake City, Utah looked to retain their #7 spot over the Cincinnati Rollergirls from Cincinnati, Ohio today. Cincinnati came into this tournament ranked eighth and was angling to move up one spot before next season. These two teams have never played each other but both finished their respective region playoffs last year in ninth place, Wasatch in the now defunct Western Region and Cincinnati in North Central. Wasatch would succeed in securing their seventh place spot, never giving up the lead throughout the bout and finishing the game with a power jam to win 275-95.

Wasatch played the same four jammers they’ve been jamming the entire tournament with Ali3 Kitt3n, Moonraker, Bunz Bunny and Harry Slaughter donning the star. Cincinnati ran a pretty tight two jammer rotation of Wheezy and K Lethal, although Sadistic Sadie did take the star once in the first half. Both teams would experience spurts of blocker penalties with packs often containing 4 or fewer blockers.

© Bob Dunnell

Wasatch jumped out to an early lead. With ten minutes gone, the score read 32-16 in favor of the Utah team. On jam eight, K Lethal earned her first lead jammer status, but Moonraker was ahead of her on the track. With only 3 blockers on the track between both teams, K Lethal continued the jam while blockers for both teams came out of and subsequently went into the box. The jam ended in Cincinnati’s favor 16-12. Wheezy, who had already earned lead jammer three times continued her lead jammer streak but Ali3 Kitt3n was right on her tail. The two jammers went multiple passes with Cincinnati winning the jam 7-4. Wasatch then managed to drive the score up over the next several jams with score reaching 132-48 before the last jam of the first half. K Lethal would enjoy the last lead jammer status of the first half and put up 4 points for her team to bring Cincinnati to 80 points behind Wasatch, 132-52.

The second half started with another scoring run by Wasatch and penalty trouble for the Cincinnati jammer duo, K Lethal and Wheezy. The score after ten jams in the second half read 202-52 for Wasatch when Cincinnati broke with their jammer rotation and put K Lethal back on the track. The hunch paid off as K Lethal got Cincinnati’s first lead jammer status in the second half. Ali3 Kitt3n, however, managed to sneak by K Lethal and both jammers added 4 points for their teams. Wasatch then broke from their jammer rotation putting Vishus Trollope on the track. Wheezy managed to juke the two Wasatch blockers first though and Cincinnati had two lead jammer status in a row. With ten minutes remaining in these teams’ tournament, the score stood at 216-64 for Wasatch.

In jam 18, K Lethal was sent off for a back block, allowing Harry Slaughter to pick up lead and grapple with the two Cincinnati blockers not in the box. Kitten Kicker managed to draw a cut off Harry Slaughter, giving Cincinnati their first power jam of the second half. That power jam was shortlived, however, with K Lethal being sent to the box on a back block. Harry Slaughter got out of the box just prior to the jam’s end. Wasatch won the jam 14-0, which meant with just under 4 minutes remaining the score stood at 236-75.

Sadistic Sadie was given a second Cincinnati power jam when Moonraker picked up a cut on her initial pass but the Cincinnati jammer was unable to get lead and picked up a backblock herself on her first scoring pass. Moonraker would go on to win that jam for Wasatch 14-10.

The final jam of the game saw K Lethal versus Bunz Bunny on the jammer line. Bunz Bunny received a penalty on her initial pass and K Lethal managed to score 10 points before being sent to the box for her seventh time on the track cut. Bunz Bunny was released and scored 15 points while waiting for the jam clock to end. Wasatch Roller Derby took seventh place with a score of 275-95.

“It’s our second year being here and we’re taking away ten times the experience and play time," said Colonel Skirts, Wasatch Roller Derby. "We’re a team that doesn’t give up. Although we might get knocked down, we’ll rise to the occasion and be better next year.”

“We played really well together and came together and learned a lot," said Cincinnati jammer K Lethal. "We know what we need to work on and improve on for next season. We had a great time and are looking forward to fixing what we need to for next year.”

Final Score

(8) Cincinnati Rollergirls 95
(7) Wasatch Roller Derby 275