Fort Wayne, IN

Denver takes first place in Fort Wayne; Ohio climbs to second

By Whacks Poetic

The sixth seed Ohio Roller Girls from Columbus, Ohio looked to continue their Cinderella story at 2103 WFTDA Division 1 Playoffs Fort Wayne on Sunday. Having already booked their ticket to Championships, they were looking to upset the number one seed, the Denver Roller Dolls of Denver Colorado, and earn a first round bye at the Milwaukee tournament in November. The Denver Roller Dolls, having never advanced to Championships in the first place spot from the previous region playoff system, were not about to let Ohio have that glory. Ohio managed to keep it close for a while, but they succumbed to Denver’s finessed pack play and fell to the Colorado team 304-134.

The game started with Ohio drawing first blood after Adams was sent to the box on a back block; Phoenix Bunz scored 15 points before receiving an illegal procedure penalty for successfully calling off the jam when she wasn’t lead jammer. The second jam started with both jammers in the box with Adams being released on the jam start whistle. The Denver jammer scored 10 points before calling off the jam when Phoenix Bunz started a scoring pass for Ohio. Sharpless put up a quick and painless 4 points, bringing the score to 15-14 for Ohio before Wilhelm took the line for the Roller Dolls. Wilhelm got lead and put up four points but Ohio jammer, Phoenix Bunz, snuck through picking up 3 points before the jam was called. The game was tied at 18 apiece after 5 minutes. Adams put up 16 points for the Roller Dolls despite going to the box for a back block in the next jam. Phoenix Bunz stood unopposed for the start of jam six with Adams still serving penalty time and scored 18 points against the two Denver blockers. With slightly more than 20 minutes remaining, Ohio retook the lead 36-34. Denver jammer Sharpless put up five points in the next jam, taking the lead, and Denver would not trail Ohio for the rest of the bout. At the halftime, the score was 149-59 for the Colorado team.

© Bob Dunnell

The second half continued in much the same way as the first had ended. Denver continued to rack up the points but it was not absolutely clean sailing. Both teams had trouble with jammer penalties. Denver jammer Williams was boxed for two track cuts in the third jam, one in the tenth, and a forearm in the sixteenth. After Phoenix Bunz’s penalty in the first jam of the game, she went on to pick up a further two cuts in the tenth jam of the second half. Also, Ohio did manage to win a couple of jams starting with 10 minutes left in the game when the Smacktivist got lead jammer versus Denver jammer Sharpless and put three points on the board, calling it off before Sharpless hit the back of the pack. A couple of jams later, The Smacktivist would manage to score 23 points in one jam against a full Denver Roller Dolls blocker crew. Finally, Phoenix Bunz managed a 9-0 jam in the remaining minutes of the game with Denver jammer Williams starting the jam in the box for a forearm.

The game, however, would end with Denver completely in control. Sharpless picked up lead jammer versus Ohio jammer Kitty Liquorbottom and calmly waited for the period clock to read zero before calling it off.

Both teams will be making an appearance at 2013 WFTDA Championships in Milwaukee, Wisconsin November 8th-10th.

“I think it’s very exciting that we have division playoffs now because we have the opportunity to play teams from different areas," said Ohio's Ava Tarr. "It was exciting to see West coast play versus East coast play and all the different areas. It enabled us to expand our repertoire. That’s been really awesome. We tried to prepare as best we could. Anyone. Any time. Anywhere.”

“My favorite part of this tournament was watching all the hard work and sweat and everything we’ve practiced coming together so perfectly," said Denver's Serelson. "It just came together well for us this tournament.”

Final Score

(1) Denver Roller Dolls 304
(6) Ohio Roller Girls 134