Salt Lake City, UT

By Danger (ismymiddlename)

San Francisco, California’s, B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls took solid hold of their game against Baltimore, Maryland’s Charm City Roller Girls. They stayed in control all the way through with strong defensive lines and indomitable jammers, despite frequent engaging plays throughout by the ever-upbeat Charm City. Bay Area took the win, 305-71.

Photo by Donna Olmstead

The game started as it would go on, with play working slow and close as jammers could be seen frequently engaging one another right off the whistle and hitting the back of the initial pass slow. Jammers, particularly from Charm City, found themselves frequently needing to simply press their bodies into the back of the pack to find inches in the solid walls. Nock Nock in particular, but all of Bay Area’s jammers used their heft to barrel through defensive lines.

The first jam started with a 1-0 point addition for Charm, but it was unlikely to continue that way, given Bay Area’s well-earned reputation for solid defense and hard-jamming. This quickly proved to be the case as, by Jam 3, Bay Area had already pushed the score up in their favor while holding Charm unscoring, at 17-1.

As has proven to be the case with Charm’s rostering across this weekend, I.M. Pain was the mainstay of the jammer rotation. While Free Radical took the jammer star more frequently in this game, before being held back by teetering on 6 penalties into the second half. Susy Pow -- often a jammer – was used in the pack as well; she saw more play as did jammer Nuckin’ Futz.

But Bay Area’s quietly devastatingly competent and connected play included such highlights as an entire three-wall moving to the inside together, even while containing Charm’s Free Radical, to allow jammer Bricktator through the outside around holes in the Charm defense. Bay Area’s Huck Sinn saw the inside of the penalty box several times over in the first quarter in less characteristic play for the jammer, and it continued to haunt her right into the end of the first period. But Bay Area nonetheless maintained 3:1 point additions against Charm for most of the first period.

At the 10th minute of play, Lulu Lockjaw was knocked out by I.M. Pain, and refused to re-enter the track as the jam counted down through its full two minutes. Charm City responded by calling an official review, requesting a skating out of bounds call on Lulu, but the no-call stood, and the score was at 97-23, Bay Area leading.

Not long after, I.M. Pain was boxed when attempting to star pass after encountering an especially tough initial pass. But then the jam was stopped as I.M. Pain was felled, and seen to by medics, where her knee was strapped and iced and she de-geared. The audience saw no more of her for the few remaining minutes of the half - a serious (if momentary) loss for Charm’s scoring capabilities. Charm appeared to counter by planning on star passes, starting by completing one from Just Carol to Colleen Best, and then putting frequent-jammer Free Radical out as pivot immediately after, while fielding Nuckin Futz. Charm then entered the half-time with a collective slump in their shoulders (which wasn’t to last), and 147-49 on the scoreboard, for Bay Area.

“We made a point to stay positive the entire time and keep encouraging each other, to not let the mental game get to us, because we know our skills are there,” said Charm City’s Holly Gohardly. “We just gave each other high-fives on the bench, and if we messed up… just resetting. Resetting on the track, resetting on the bench.”

In the second half, while I.M. Pain was back, Chantilly Mace went down with a couple of minutes remaining in the third game quarter, clutching her knee and calling the jam at the same time, just as she had taken lead. She removed her gear, appearing to expect not to play further into this game. Bay Area requested a low block call on that hit. But the official review maintained that it was legal contact, and the score stood at 202-69.

Susy Pow ended a full two-minute jam standing back and watching Huck Sinn take on her jammers as she believed she knew there was no benefit in re-engaging the pack further after she had taken points before being forced out to re-engage. Charm then requested an official review for those points to be accounted for, and they were added to Charm’s tally. But it couldn’t turn the game in their favor, as Bay Area continued to push upwards.

Until the final jam, where Bay Area entered up at 305-71. With a slow pack initial pass, in which Bay Area soon recycled Susy Pow, a Charm City duo-wall held LuLu Lockjaw, who then called the jam off as the final period seconds ticked away, maintaining those points as the final score.

That game assures Bay Area of entry into the international 2014 WFTDA Championships, and their next game is a tournament rankings “formality” as they play the winner of Rocky Mountain v Angel City tomorrow in the 1st Place game of this playoffs at 6 pm MDt. The results of that game will also affect seeding into Championships.

“We’ve had the luxury of playing both ACDG and Rocky earlier in the season, so recognizing our strengths against them in those matches, but also recognizing our areas of challenge, and so hopefully there will be some new things executed on the track in order to address those areas of challenge, but also to maximize on what was already happening on the track,” said Bay Area blocker Murderyn Monroe:

Charm City now has the opportunity to play off tomorrow, Sunday, at 4pm MDT in what is often considered the most interesting game of the tournament, when the loser of Rocky v Angel faces off against them to determine who makes it into Champs this year as the 3 seed from this tournament.

Final Score

(4) Charm City Roller Girls 71
(1) B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls 305