London Rollergirls Bout Recaps: Season 4 Bout 5 – May 19th 2012

Season 4 Bout 5 – May 19th 2012

Suffra Jets 221 – Auld Reekie Roller Girls 103
Harbour Grudges 205 – 124 Steam Rollers

In this action-packed double-header, London Rollergirls succeeded to provide two nail biting bouts with LRG’s Suffra Jets taking on Auld Reekie Roller Girls’ Twisted Thistles followed by the penultimate intraleague bout of the season with the Steam Rollers up against the Harbour Grudges.

LRG’s intraleague teams stand unbeaten in all of the season’s bouts against visiting leagues but the Suffra Jets were faced with a challenge in taking on Auld Reekie Roller Girls as the league has gone from strength to strength since becoming full WFTDA members with ARRG beating Dolly Rockit Rollers at Tattoo Freeze and landing 4th place in the tournament. ARRG took on CCR in March and their skaters have since made guest appearances in bouts around the UK. With Admiral Attackbar playing for Young Team in the recent Royal Windsor Rollergirls’ Sur5al event and the Twisted Thistles’ very own captain Crazylegs skating for the European All-Star team at last month’s Anarchy Euro Crash bout against London Brawling.

An extremely physical and action-packed game allowed Auld Reekie to prove their strength. However, penalty trouble got the better of them in the end leading the Suffra Jets to victory though the scores were extremely close throughout the first quarter.

For the first few jams, the scores crept up for both teams and were nail-bitingly close with several lead changes occurring in the first fifteen minutes of the game. In the first jam Zillah took the star for Auld Reekie, while Grievous Bodily Charm was up first for the Suffra Jets. Zillah made it through the pack first but picked up a minor on her way, allowing Grievous Bodily Charm to get lead jammer for the Suffra Jets – but only after Zillah had picked up two points for her team, giving ARRG the lead with 4–0. The Suffra Jets took the lead back in the next jam, however, as Hula Gunn and Bexorcist held up Admiral Attackbar, allowing Lottie2Hottie to score five points and call it off before ARRG could score giving the Suffra Jets a three-point lead with 5–2 at just over three minutes in.

The Suffra Jets’ score crept up over the next jam as Dalai Harmer got lead and scored another three points. ARRG fought back in the following jam as Zillah made it through first, despite being held up at the start by a strong Suffra Jet wall, scoring four points and calling it before Lottie2Hottie hit the back of the pack on her scoring pass. The score remained extremely close for the next couple of jams until yet another lead change left ARRG with a three-point advantage with 13–10 at nine minutes in. Just when we thought it couldn’t get any closer, Grievous Bodily Charm took the jammer line for the Suffra Jets and brought the score to a tie of 14–14.

The Suffra Jets upped the steaks and got lead jammer in the next two consecutive jams, raising the score to 37– 17 to the Suffra Jets. Auld Reekie had only managed to catch up by two points when Zillah was sent to the box, leaving a massive powerjam for the Suffra Jets with Grievous Bodily Charm scoring a 28 points and extending the Suffra Jets’ lead to 65–19. Few points were scored in the following few jams until Minnie Riot got lead jammer for ARRG, sneaking through on the outside line. Lottie2hottie was sent to the box, allowing Minnie Riot to pick up seven points for her team before calling it off after a big hit to the outside line from Shaolynn Scarlett. Another power jam for ARRG meant that Admiral Attackbar picked up another six points for her team as Shaolynn Scarlett was sent to the box for a 4th minor. However, Admiral Attackbar was then sent off for a back block allowing Shaolynn Scarlett to come back on and score 10 points for the Suffra Jets. In the final jam of the half, Zillah got lead but Suffra Jet jammer Helen Nash was hot on her heels, forcing Zillah to call it before any points were scored, leaving the score at half time 87–37 to the Suffra Jets.

The second half started off with another big power jam for the Suffra Jets as Lottie2hottie got straight through the pack and Zillah was sent off. Zillah came back on but was boxed again enabling Lottie2hottie to increase the Suffra jets’ lead to 107–37. Zillah started the next jam in the box leaving Helen Nash as the only jammer on the track. However, the Suffra Jets were not able to take full advantage of the situation as Helen Nash was sent off for cutting track leaving Zillah to get lead jammer. A fierce ARRG wall at the front of the pack did a sterling job of holding back Helen Nash as she came back on leaving the scores at 112–37 to the Suffra Jets.

The Suffra Jets played defensively over the next few jams, consistently getting lead jammer and successfully preventing ARRG from scoring by making strong walls at the back of the pack. More penalty trouble ensued for Auld Reekie at 14 minutes into the second half when Zillah was boxed for a back block, leaving Grievous Bodily Charm to rack up some serious points as ARRG were at a disadvantage with only two blockers on the track. This massive power jam set the Suffra Jets up with a 114-point lead and a score of 163–49, which made it impossible for ARRG to catch up.

Auld Reekie fought on and didn’t give up in spite of the Suffra Jets’ lead with Admiral Attackbar, Zillah and Blazin Phoenix all getting lead jammer in consecutive jams towards the end of the game. The Suffra Jets’ Crash Bandicute was sent off for cutting track allowing Admiral Attackbar to score twenty points for ARRG before getting boxed herself with only three minutes left in the game, minimising the Suffra Jets’ lead to less than 100 points. With only a couple of jams to go, the score was 196–95 to the Suffra Jets.

The final two jams of the game were big-scoring jams for the Suffra Jets with a 12-point power jam for Dalai harmer as Admiral Attackbar started the jam in the box. Shaolynn Scarlett got lead with a nice whip from Bexorcist in the final jam of the game as Zillah was stuck behind Sinister Mary Clarence and Hula Gunn allowing Shaolynn Scarlett to finish the game scoring 13 points for the Suffra Jets. The final score was 221–103 to the Suffra Jets.

Steam Rollers vs Harbour Grudges

The penultimate LRG intraleague bout of the season saw the Steam Rollers face the Harbour Grudges. Earlier in the season we saw the Steam Rollers beat the Ultraviolent Femmes 152–140 in a nail-bitingly close game and the Harbour Grudges beating the Suffra Jets 146–105.

Just to keep us on our toes, a few new faces made appearances on the Steam Rollers’ roster for this exciting game with Pole Axe making her debut for the team and Busty Springfield, a recent LRG Rec League graduate playing as a ringer, as well as the Ultraviolent Femmes’ Bette Noir, one of the founders of London Rollergirls.

A strong performance by both teams saw an extremely close game for the first quarter, but the Steam Rollers ran into some penalty trouble along the way, allowing the Harbour Grudges to rack up some serious points with a few high-scoring power jams later on in the game.

The first jam of the game saw Steam Roller Juicy Lucy taking the star against Lola Vulkano. The Harbour Grudges got the jam started quickly, taking a knee in front of the jammer line, enabling Lola Vulkano to get lead jammer while Juicy Lucy was still stuck in the pack. Lola Vulkano scored a swift three points before calling off the jam as Juicy Lucy hit the back of the pack, putting the Harbour Grudges in the lead with 3–0.

The second jam saw the first of several lead changes as Beating Disorder got lead jammer for the Steam Rollers as Olivia Coupe was knocked down by a big hit from Raw Heidi on her way through the pack. Beating Disorder was then sent to the box, immediately followed by Olivia Coupe allowing Beating Disorder to come back on and score five points bringing the Steam Rollers into the lead with 5–3. In the following jam, the Steam Rollers increased their lead with Fox Sake scoring a further three points with Harbour Grudges’ jammer Metallikat stuck behind a strong wall of Steam Rollers at the front of the pack.

A power jam for the Harbour Grudges brought them back into the lead as Steam Rollers’ jammer Juicy Lucy was sent to the box moments after getting through the pack. Patient offence by the Harbour Grudges allowed jammer Olivia Coupe to score 10 points as Juicy Lucy came back on but was boxed again. The scores crept up incrementally for both teams in the next few jams, but before we knew it the scores were tied as Beating Disorder, jamming for the Steam Rollers, got lead jammer sprinting around the outside of the pack. An invincible Harbour Grudges wall of Stefanie Maniey, Vigour Mortis and Pinkie Brown held her up on her scoring pass forcing her to call it off–but not without picking up four points for her team, making the score 17–17.

Metallikat brought the Harbour Grudges back into the lead and at 15 minutes in, the Steam Rollers encountered their first bout of penalty trouble. Lola Vulkano got lead jammer for the Harbour Grudges before getting sent to the box for cutting track. Beating Disorder jamming for the Steam Rollers was hot on her heels as she too was boxed for cutting track, allowing Lola Vulkano to return to the track before the end of the jam. A massive power jam for the Harbour Grudges followed as Metallikat took to the jammer line all by herself. Beating Disorder returned to the track briefly before getting sent off again, as Metallikat brought the Harbour Grudges’ score up to 51–17. Another power jam ensued for the Harbour Grudges with Beating Disorder still in the box, enabling Lola Vulkano to increase the Harbour Grudges lead to 68–17.

The Steam Rollers managed to pull it back with two consecutive high-scoring power jams as Harbour Grudges’ jammer Rikkter Scale was sent to the box. Fox Sake and Slice Andice scored nine points each jamming for the Steam Rollers, decreasing the Harbour Grudges lead to 68–45. However, another high-scoring power jam for the Harbour Grudges before half time allowed Metallikat to increase the Harbour Grudges’ lead to 92–44 as the jam started with Steam Rollers’ jammer Slice Andice in the penalty box. Both teams ran into penalty trouble in the final jam of the half as Knickerblocker Glory took the star for the Harbour Grudges with Juicy Lucy jamming for the Steam Rollers. Juicy Lucy was sent off leaving Knickerblocker Glory to score 14 points before being sent off herself leaving the half-time score at 106–44 to the Harbour Grudges.

Fox Sake started off the second half as the only jammer on the track scoring a 10-point jam for the Steam Rollers with Knickerblocker Glory starting in the box. However, the Steam Rollers ran into some more penalty trouble a couple of jams later when Slice Andice was sent to the box leaving Harbour Grudges’ jammer Stefanie Mainey to increase their lead to 147–54 with a power jam for the Harbour Grudges at seven minutes in.

The next few jams saw the Harbour Grudges do an excellent job of getting lead jammer with extremely strong defensive walls holding back the Steam Rollers’ jammers and preventing them from getting lead. Harbour Grudges’ jammers Stefanie Mainey, Lola Vulkano and Metallikat all added points to the score over the next few jams, increasing the Harbour Grudges’ lead to 170–59 half way through the second half.

Both teams encountered more penalty trouble in the last few jams of the game, but it wasn’t enough for the Steam Rollers to catch up. A massive power jam for the Steam Rollers enabled jammer Juicy Lucy to decrease the Harbour Grudges’ lead to 177–100 as she sprinted straight through the inside on her scoring pass and Metallikat was sent to the box. A power jam for the Harbour Grudges a couple of jams later saw Steam Roller Juicy Lucy sent to the box and Harbour Grudges’ jammer Rikkter Scale pass the star to Knickerblocker Glory after a big hit from Raw Heidi knocked her to the outside.

Stefanie Mainey took the star for the Harbour Grudges in the following jam as the only jammer on the track and brought the score to 186–100 with three and a half minutes left in the game. The Steam Rollers didn’t give up without a fight as Fox Sake scored 23 points in a power jam for the Steam Rollers in the penultimate jam of the game but it wasn’t enough to bring it back as the game ended with a final score of 205–124 to the Harbour Grudges.