Detroit, MI

By Lois Slain

It was hard-charging fight to the finish in the match between the #3 seed Emerald City Rollergirls of Eugene, Oregon, and #6 seed The Chicago Outfit, but the Outfit ultimately pulled off the upset thanks to a strong second half.

Photo by Alexei Dodson

Emerald City took the game’s first point, but a jammer penalty in the second jam allowed the Outfit to take an 8-1 lead. Emerald held them to those 8 points for four more jams, until Ice Hurt earned lead jammer status for the Outfit for the first time in the game. Emerald City quashed the Outfit’s momentum when they had all their blockers on the track, deftly recycling from the back of the pack to the front to frustrate the opposing jammers.

A spate of Emerald City jammer penalties in the middle of the half gave the Outfit the chance to catch up. Lola Blow put up a 14-point jam as Emerald City’s blockers looked undecided whether to focus on defense or help their jammer Spunkee Bruizer, who was trapped in the pack after returning from the penalty box. This brought the score to 56-49, Emerald still leading. However, the Outfit never quite caught back up during the half. Emerald ended the half with game momentum, leading 80-56 after shutting down Outfit jammer Shebiscuit for two consecutive jams.

Photo by Derby with Recess

However, the Outfit came back from halftime on a tear, surging to an 80-96 lead after four jams thanks to a 19-point and 16-point jam from Lola Blow. Emerald clutched a tiny lead back five james later, thanks in part to two big jams by Psychotic Rage. With defenses kicked into high gear, the teams traded tiny scores back and forth and remained within a few points of each other for the duration of the game, until the final jam.

The Outfit held a 6-point lead going into the final jam. Lola Blow picked up lead and then was able to add 14 points to her team’s total as the entire Outfit pack stayed penalty-free and Emerald’s jammer and two blockers took turns in the penalty box.

FINAL SCORE

Emerald City Rollergirls (#3) 121
The Chicago Outfit (#6) 141