Nashville, TN

By Lexistential Crisis

Portland, Oregon’s Rose City Rollers (Charleston Seed #1, #2) was the first team to advance to the final Championship game after they solidly defeated San Francisco, California’s Bay Area Derby Girls (Salt Lake City Seed #1, #3). These two teams are fairly familiar with each other and had a 5-5 record with Bay Area winning their two most recent games with differentials under 30 points. Rose City skater Sarah Gaither said they came into the game “focusing on playing our game, controlling what we can control.”

Photo by Donna Olmstead

Rose City started the first half by earning every lead jammer status in the first five jams. They built up a 12-0 lead until Scald Eagle was sent to the box on a misconduct penalty. Bay Area took the opportunity to put their first five points on the board. A few jams later penalties took Rose City’s pack down to one blocker and Nock Nock was able to swoop around the pack in order to take a lead of 16-15.

Both teams suffered from smaller packs due penalties in the next few jams, and Rose City took advantage to tie the score at 20. LickerNSplit scored a quick three points about half-way through the first half to establish a lead for Rose City. They consistently increased that lead throughout many short jams that featured precise defense-to-offense switches by every blocker on the track. The half-time score was 54-79 in favor of Rose City.

Photo by Donna Olmstead

That 25-point differential was quickly increased in the first jam of the second half, as Rose City blockers slowed and split up Bay Area’s defense during two back-to-back jammer penalties. Loren Mutch was able to navigate through the pack for her first of two 24-point jams. Bay Area blockers consistently worked to hold Rose City’s jammers and help out their own jammers throughout the second half. belle RIGHT hooks, Demanda Riot, and Murderyn Monroe worked tirelessly to halt Rose City’s jammers while helping their own jammers out of the pack, but they weren’t able to close the gap.

With about 15 minutes left in the game Rose City held a lead of 143-74. Rose City’s jammers continued to find small holes in Bay Area’s defense in order to maintain that lead until the end. Their blockers integrated into strong, braced walls to hold back Bay Area’s jammers. Both teams worked to manipulate the pack speed to suit what they wanted to achieve in the pack; they increased their speed to avoid being scored on and slowed it down when they needed to score more points. Ultimately, Rose City was able to keep more skaters on the track and put more points on the board to advance for a chance at the Hydra. The final score was 116-187 for Rose City.

Photo by Joey Miller

Nock Nock and Bricktator scored 37 and 35 for Bay Area, respectively. Loren Mutch earned 81 points for Rose City and Scald Eagle added an additional 70 points.

Bay Area will play either London or Gotham for third place tomorrow at 4 pm CST. For the first time, Rose City will play in the final game against the winner of tonight’s London and Gotham game tomorrow at 6 pm CST.

Final Score

B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls (Salt Lake City #1) 116
Rose City Rollers (Charleston #1) 187