CRG vs. Gem City and the North Star Supernovas

Published May 30, 2010 at 9:27 p.m.
It was a warm night in the Cincinnati Gardens on Saturday – made all that much more so by a heated bout between geographical neighbors and another by neighbors in the DNN power rankings...I didn’t hear the attendance number, but it must have been over 2000...In the first bout of the evening, the Cincinnati Rollergirls’ Silent Lambs took on the Gem City Roller Girls from Dayton in a 40 minute match...In the second bout, CRG’s Black Sheep took on the North Star Roller Girls from Minneapolis...Congratulations to CRG for coming away with two wins!

The first bout between the Silent Lambs and Gem City pitted some old teammates against each other because of transfers between the Cincinnati and Dayton teams...That seemed to add a little extra tension to the bout and it translated into a lot of hard blocking in the pack...That kept the score relatively low...Notables in the blocking department were Ruff’n the Passer (her first bout coming off maternity leave) and Celia Graves (shown at right blocking Gem City Jammer Racey Rocker) for the Silent Lambs and Juwana Hurt for Gem City – but everyone in both packs was getting a workout and giving it their all...The first photo below shows Wheezy flying to the inside after taking a hit from Juwana Hurt...There was a lot of jammer rotation for the Lambs that included Pistol Whippin’ Wendy, Wheezy, Bombtrack, Hop Devil, Miss Print (second photo below), and Bex Pistol (third photo below)...CRG played smart during the match – varying the pack speed, catching babies, etc...The blocking, speedy and experienced jammers, and smart play were all factors that kept the Silent Lambs in control from the start...Gem City’s Racey Rocker must have posted most of the Gem City points, but it wasn’t enough...At the half the Lambs were up 45 to 24 and after 40 minutes they won easily with a score of 112 to 53...Congrats to the Silent Lambs on another big win that was achieved by using many different skaters in a variety of different packs.







In the second bout, the Black Sheep (DNN rank 19) took on the North Star Supernovas (DNN rank 24) in a WFTDA bout...CRG started out slow and the score was low and within a few points after the first few jams...That changed when Hannah Ouchocinco (skating in her first home bout following her finger injury) posted a 20 point jam to create a gap that North Star could never close...From that point on, CRG controlled the bout with hard work and smart play that was interesting to watch...It was obvious that both teams knew each other the way they were pairing jammers on the line and assigning blockers to double team where necessary to slow or stop jammers in the pack...Although the pack speed varied according to strategy, it was a pretty fast pack for most of the bout...However, with K. Lethal and Hannah back in the jammer rotation so Nuk’em could focus on blocking, the Supernovas had their hands full...The photo above and right shows Sadistic Sadie zipping around the track to score on her birthday.

By the half the Black Sheep were ahead with a score of 67 to 21...The second half was very similar to the first...It was the Black Sheep in control most of the time...That’s not to say that the Supernovas gave in by any means...They continued dishing out some hard blocks and use double teaming to make Cincinnati’s jammers work hard...But work they did to keep up about the same scoring pace as they did in the first half of the bout...The first photo below shows Hannah going around turn 4 with the Supernova skaters Roller Vixen in front and Katarina Hit behind...The second photo below shows Sk8 Crime holding the inside line to slow down Supernova jammer Medusa enough so Sk8r-Kinney could come in to give a hard block...In the end, the Black Sheep won handily with a score of 119 to 50...Congrats on a solid victory!





The bout production was very good as usual...Some friends who brought kids for their first bout of this season were impressed with the improvements compared to past years...The kids loved the chance to meet the skaters and get autographs after the bout...It’s nice that the CRG skaters take time to talk with the young kids – and the older kids like me too...After the bout we talked a bit with the Librarian...She was notably absent from the Silent Lambs lineup due to a knee injury...She was hobbling around with a sturdy brace on her knee, but she always has time to say hi and give a shush pose...Thanks, Librarian!

I also had the opportunity to meet Hop Devil, one of the CRG rookies and a jammer for the Silent Lambs...She also posed for a photo with me...Finally, Dianne and I posed with Buckhead Betty and Nuk’em in this photo below taken by the Kman...Thanks to both of them!



In a Rabid Derby Fan blog first, Dianne got a photo of me with one of the CRG zebras, Captain Gorgeous...You can see a more traditional photo of me and Capt. G here...All the photos I posted from the Lambs’ bout are in a Flickr set here and all the photos from the Sheep bout are in a set here.

If you haven’t been to a CRG bout, what's the matter with you!?! You better mark June 19th on your calendar as that is their last home bout of the 2010 season...After that you can follow them on the road for several bouts around the country before the North Central Regional tournament in September...Check out the CRG website for more information about their schedule as well as lots of info on upcoming matchups, events, and blog posts by skaters...The recent post by Bombtrack that gives a rookie’s perspective was very interesting...Check it out and see you at the last home bout!




Back | Read more at Rabid Derby Fan