Evansville, IN

London Brawling dispatches Windy City to place 1st

***By Ninja Sass'em

In the final game of the international WFTDA Division 1 Playoffs tournament in Evansville, Indiana, the London Rollergirls (seed 1, ranked #3) from London, England, United Kingdom, jumped out early with Kamikaze Kitten striking first with 3 points against the Windy City Rollers (seed 3, ranked #11) from Chicago, Illinois, USA. London jammer Rogue Runner grabbed lead next, putting up 19 against Juniper Simonis, who was boxed on a forearm. The score was 22-0 in favor of London after 2 jams.

Varla Vendetta was stuffed by the wall of Brawling and eventually passed to Jackie Daniels, while London jammer added another 7 points to the total.

London grabs five lead jams in a row as Rogue posts up 4 points and the ladies from Illinois put up zero.

Simonis breaks the streak earning Windy's first lead, but they are boxed on a back block. Stephanie Mainey utilizes the non-lead power jam before passing the star to Juke Boxx. When Simonis serves all 30 seconds, they completed a scoring pass and got on the board for the first time. London had held them scoreless for the first 10 minutes.

The score is 57-4 when Windy takes their first time out.

A total of 7 points were added by Lexi Lightspeed and Rogue Runner while London continued to hold Windy's jammers. A power jam for Kamikaze Kitten gives London 5 points before Sandrine Rangeon took her turn on a power jam after the London jammer is boxed on a back block. Jam 9 ends in a score of 74-19.

Simonis grabbed lead in Jam 11, while Rogue Runner ran into a tough wall of Bork Bork Bork, Smarty McFly, and Sargentina. Windy put up 15 points and Rogue Runner got sent to box on a skating-out-of-bounds penalty. London called for an official review to examine the skating-out-of-bounds call but the call was upheld. Rangeon then grabbed lead over a boxed Rogue Runner and added 5 for Windy before calling it off, bringing the score to 88-39 with 10:00 minutes to play.

Varla Vendetta scooted past Juke Boxx on the inside to claim lead and called it off after harvesting all 4 points. London answers with Kamikaze Kitten tight roping outside the pack to get lead, jumping the apex and grabbing 5 on her initial pass while The Jamburglar was stuck in the pack. Kami added an additional 3 points before calling it off.

In jam 18, Stephanie Mainey earned lead and then a power jam when The Jamburglar was boxed on a multiplayer penalty. Sargentina was then sent to the box on a misconduct after hitting an already downed Mainey. Score was 117-46 with 2:40 left to play in the first.

Simonis got called on a back block at the very end of jam 20, leaving Mainey to start on a power jam. It took almost 30 seconds for her to obtain lead, and Simonis was released from the penalty box. Five more points for London brought the halftime score to 122-50.

At the half, Windy had triple the penalties that London had. Twenty-four box trips including 5 for Sargentina and 3 each for Smarty McFly, Yvette Yourmaker, and jammer Simonis. Meanwhile, London kept their game play super clean with only 8 penalties total in the first half.

Starting the second half, Windy got lead but a late call off allowed Mainey to snake her 2 points to Rangeon's 0. Lexi Lightspeed was called on a back block, which allowed a power jam for Windy’s Varla Vandetta, who puts up 11 points.

In jam 7 of the second half, Varla cuts track, allowing yet another Stephanie Mainey power jam, bringing the score to 151-65.

In this tournament, many teams, including Windy City, have used a star "stash" versus a star pass—removing the jammer panty and either palming it or placing it in their jersey rather than getting it to the pivot. Windy employed this strategy many times with little trickery as London always seemed to hone in on whom the "real" jammer was.

With 15:00 minutes left in play, Mainey had put up more points individually (74) as the entire Windy City team (70). Varla capitalized on a forearm penalty against Rogue Runner at the start of jam 11 and brought the score to 163-88.

With 9:17 left in the game, Windy requested an official review, thinking there was one missed point. Indeed there was, the score is adjusted, and Windy retained their review.

Jam 15 showed Varla vs Mainey again and Mainey earned lead while Juke Boxx, jensykes, and Lady Go-Go held onto Varla at the back of the pack. Mainey called if off, bringing the score to 184-109.

Rogue Runner was awarded lead status in the 16th, with Rangeon stuck in the pack. Rangeon cut track, giving London another power jam. Rogue's fancy footwork gets her around Sargentina, who after a penalty parade is the only blocker left on the track, and she called it after scoring 29 big points. Windy challenged the final London pass thinking a point was awarded in error. Points were correct and Windy lost their review.

Simonis takes the line, after a 10-jam rest, against Lexi Lightspeed for London and got lead. Lexi passed the star to Juke Boxx. They both grab 3 points, but Juke was boxed at the end of the jam on a back block.

Jackie Daniels stared on a power jam, but cut the track during her intitial pass. Juke left the box and passed the star to Shaolynn Scarlett, tossing aside her pivot panty that was underneath from the jam prior. Scarlett went to the box for a high block and Jackie Daniels continueed to put up points for Windy. The score was 222-122 and Sargentina fouled out.

In the last jam, Varla earned lead jammer and Shaolin passed the star to Mainey, who was the newly fielded pivot. When the dust settled, London would win 226-131.

London Brawling finishes in 1st place where they started and Windy City All-Stars move up one spot to finish the tournament in second place.

London, Windy City, and Texas will all advance to Champs in Nashville over the October 31st weekend.