Saint Paul, MN

by Shelly Shankya

For the first time in WFTDA tournament history, the Division 2 teams met each other in a seeded bracket at the 2015 International WFTDA Championships in St. Paul, Minn. The opening game of the day featured #1 seed from the Detroit Division 2 Playoffs, the Nashville Rollergirls of Nashville,Tenn. against the #2 seed from the Cleveland Division 2 Tournament, the Demolition City Roller Derby of Evansville, Ind. The two teams met previously in 2015 sanctioned play in August. Nashville won 227-115, and the results from the morning's bracketed play were similar; Nashville defeated Demolition City 232-91.

With the opening whistle, the Nashville skaters took a strong stance, but jammer Chelsea Dagger, after receiving lead jammer status, got a back block penalty and spent her time in the penalty box. That penalty opened up scoring potential for Demolition City from Evansville, Ind., a team with limited tournament experiences, having placed eighth at the Division 2 Kitchener-Waterloo tournament in 2014. Jammer Bambi Thumpher passed the star to Bangs McCoy in the first jam, scoring 11 points to Daggers' 3. And for a brief moment, it looked like the team from Indiana was starting its demolition of the tournament veterans, the Nashville Rollergirls. However, an enlivened jam by Nashville jammer Lady Fury - Division 2 Most Valuable Player in Detroit - sparked the team and the scoreboard in Nashville's favor. She scored 4 unanswered and provided a lead change for the ladies in blue.

Nashville blanked Demolition City in the following five jams, a definitive response to Indiana's early dominance. And in the remaining jams of the period, Demolition City managed only 21 points for a total of 40 points in the half, while Nashville scored a total of 113. Jamming penalties became a problem for Demolition City as Flex A. Belle received three back-to-back penalties as Nashville went on a 53-point run in jams 6-8. The spread wide, Nashville needed only to maintain their strength in defense to hold the Demolition skaters at bay.

"We've really worked on defense this season," Nashville blocker Sugar said. "We work to stay calm, and we've practiced all season. We've been training for this all season, and I'm really proud about how we skated this morning. We work on building strong walls, and we work in the same wall lines each jam, so we know each other very well, and we know what we need to do to stay together."

Blockers Sugar and Tear O'Bite held the track for Nashville, helping their jammers land lead status in 13 of the 19 jams of the first period. During the 2015 season, Nashville managed lead jammer status 52% of the time, while Demolition City got lead 44% of the time in sanctioned play. That statistic did not remain true in the first game of D2 bracketed play, however. The lopsided lead jammer status in Nashville's favor put them handily in the lead going into the half. Nashville led 113-40.

The second half of play was a near carbon copy of the first. Nashville scored 119 points in the second and Demolition scored 51. Likewise, the penalties swung to Nashville's favor. And, like the first period, Nashville's braces made landing lead jammer status a difficult task for the Dynamite Dolls. Blockers Sugar, Electra Cal and Morgan Levy kept Godjilla and Stepheree in check as Nashville delivered five goose-egg jams for the start of the second. The pack pace stayed relatively slow, grinding through the turns and making forceful point runs difficult for both jammers.

Demolition City burned through their three timeouts by the time the game clock read 8:23, leaving them powerless to slow the roll of Music City All Stars, and they chose not to use their official review in the second period, allowing the clock to expire, but not after a point burst of 19 points from jammers Bambi ThumpHer and Slaughtermelons. Slaughtermelons skated her first jam in the 2015 tournament season, grabbing lead status and three points. With just under 7:00 on the game clock, veteran blocker and pivot Stepheree fouled out after accruing her seventh penalty.

In the end, the game fell in favor of the Nashville, the more experienced team. Nashville has appeared in tournament play, both at the Division 1 and Division 2 levels.

"Nashvillle is used to pressure," Sugar said. "And I think that because we're used to working for what we get each jam, we don't get flustered. We've learned that at this level of play you have to play jam-by-jam, stay focused, and bring it in."

Nashville will play again on Sunday for the Division 2 Championship. Demolition City will play for Third Place.

FINAL SCORE

Nashville Rollergirls (D2 Detroit #1) 232
Demolition City Roller Derby (D2 Cleveland #2) 91