Dallas, TX

By Whacks Poetic

In the first game of the 2015 International WFTDA Division 1 Playoffs Dallas, the new-to-WFTDA-playoffs Crime City Rollers from Malmo, Sweden, took on the playoff veteran Ohio Roller Girls from Columbus, Ohio. Crime City came into the game as the higher seed, ranked eighth in the tournament, and Ohio was gunning for an upset having entered the tournament in ninth place. In this game, the new would overtake the old with Crime City winning 221-115.

Sexual Her Ass-Meant of Crime City said, “It feels pretty unreal to be here. When we came here this morning, it was something else – like a lot of us played the World Cup, and that was really cool, but this is the best of the best. It’s awesome!”

The first five minutes were filled with Crime City’s desire to prove it deserved to be on the WFTDA world stage. Jamming by Ankefar, Curly Håår, Prince Sofia and Hanna P allowed Crime City to take the lead 30-7 as the period clock ticked down by seven minutes. Ohio found its Championship style resolve, though, and went on to win the next 5 jams and pull the score within 10 points before jammer Kitty Liquorbottom went to the penalty box on a skating out of bounds penalty. A pair of lead jammer statuses by Ankefar and Curly Håår saw Crime City increase its lead once more, bringing the score was 55-32 after 15 minutes of play.

The dynamic backwards blocking style of Crime City stymied The Smacktivist as Prince Sofia lapped the pack multiple times while the Ohio jammer was stuck in the pack, leading Ohio to take a timeout and hoping to come back recharged. Unfortunately for the veteran team, their two primary jammers, Kitty Liquorbottom and The Smacktivist, could not figure out the Swedish defense while the Crime City jammers managed to push and juke their way through Ohio’s flat wall style for the rest of the period. At halftime, the score favored Crime City 99-50.

The second half started with a power jam in favor of Crime City, with Ohio jammer Texas Chainsaw Sasskicker picking up a penalty at the very end of the first half. Ankefar managed two scoring passes before the Ohio jammer made it out of the penalty box, calling the jam after putting up another four points. Texas Chainsaw Sasskicker found herself in the penalty box once more at the start of the seventh jam of the half and Prince Sofia managed the first multiple-scoring-pass jam since the first jam of the half, putting up 28 points for Crime City.

With 20 minutes left in the game, the European team led by almost 100 points, 154-57. A power jam for Ohio saw a masterful defense by Crime City keeping Ohio pivot-turned-jammer Paige Bleed unable to break through the pack. The following jam, however, saw Ohio standout jammer The Smacktivist with a power jam in their favor, adding a second 20-point jam to their tally and bringing the American team near the century mark, 164-97, with 14 minutes remaining. On their next jam, The Smacktivist took their team above the century mark, but it would cost them a trip to the box for cutting the track. With three minutes left, Ankefar took the lead for most points scored and brought her team to 193 to Ohio’s 108 in a grinding defensive jam so typical for this game.

Ohio skaters The Smacktivist and Texas Chainsaw Sasskicker said of their team’s blocking style, “We’ve been working really hard this season to adjust our gameplay. We have a lot of old school patterns ingrained into us. We had some retirements and we’ve been working on finding our identity again. In the last couple of months, we’ve found our way to mesh and reminding each other on the track to be low, to be slow, be square.”

The final jam saw Crime City attain lead jammer status and run the clock out to win its first game at WFTDA playoffs, 221-115.

Crime City will face the #1 seed, the Rose City Rollers from Portland, Ore., at 4 p.m. today. Ohio moves to the consolation bracket, taking on the loser of today’s game pitting #3 seed Philly Roller Derby from Philadelphia, Pa., versus the host league and #6 seed Dallas Derby Devils of Dallas, Texas, tomorrow at 12 p.m.

FINAL SCORE

Crime City Rollers (#8) 221
Ohio Roller Girls (#9) 115