Dallas, TX

By Whacks Poetic

The pride of the Pacific Northwest was subject to a fierce battle today as number one seed, Rose City Rollers, from Portland, OR, USA took on the fourth seed, Rat City Rollergirls from Seattle, WA, USA, at the 2015 International WFTDA Division 1 Playoffs Dallas. The teams have a long history of playing intense games against each other and this was not one to disappoint. Rat City has lost all but one game to their Oregon counterparts leading up to today, the most recent being a 179-96 loss in July. Rose City booked their ticket to the 2015 International WFTDA Championships with a win against their Washington opponents, 287-150.

Photo by Jennifer Ramos

The first three jams saw three lead changes as Rat City took the first jam 2-0, Rose the second 4-0 and Rat the third 5-0 on a Power Jam. Rose, however, demonstrated how much damage they can do when given a Power Jam with Loren Mutch and Scald Eagle having back to back 30+ point jams as Genevieve Moore and then Kayla Gaska sat in the box wearing the jammer cover for Rat City. This brought the score to 125-76.

Loren Mutch, Rose City Skater on the Rat-Rose rivalry: “I was nervous going into this bout. We know each other so well because we play each other often. It took a while for us to warm up and things got intense really quickly. Rat City made us earn every point we got.”

The half ended on a positive note for Rat with Genevieve Moore picking up lead jammer status and 6 points for the Seattle team with the scoreboard reading 138-82 at the half.

Photo by Christopher Cross

The second half saw a re-energized Rose City earning Lead Jammer in the first seven jams and outscored Rat City, 67-17 bringing the score to 210-99. Rat had shining moments with a late game comeback led by Rat City jammer Xena earning lead and 9 points while Rose jammer, Loren Mutch was stuck in the pack. This brought the score to 250-125 for Rose City. Rat managed to increase their score when Moore and Xena each picked up lead and a handful of points. The final points of the game for Rat City would come from Lunacorn who earned lead and 15 points during a Power Jam bringing the score to 263-150. The final two jams would go to Rose City with the final jam going the full two minutes as Scald Eagle and then Lunacorn went to the box on track cuts. In the end, Rose City would raise their arms victorious, 287-150.

Rose City will play in the first place game against the winner of Philly Roller Derby versus Texas Roller Girls tomorrow at 6pm. Rat City will play the loser of the same game in the third place game with only the winner of said game going to Championships in St. Paul, MN, USA in November.

FINAL SCORE

Rose City Rollers (#1) 287
Rat City Rollergirls (#4) 150