Sour Smash Roller Derby Bout

Dianne and I capped off our visit to Louisville yesterday (more on other activities in a future post) by attending the Sour Smash event at the Kentucky Expo Center where the Derby City Roller Girls hosted the Black-n-Bluegrass Rollergirls. We thought, and rightly so, that the BBRG would need a couple more people in the crowd cheering for them. It was a good match with the BBRG beating DCRG by a score of 106 to 41!

The Black-n-Bluegrass Roller Girls took the lead on the first jam and never looked back. They easily adapted to the faster surface and the pack was moving fairly fast. The photo above and right shows BBRG jammer EMolition and DCRG jammer Envy Miyoni. The first period was a bit strange in that there were several zero/zero jams. At face value, that isn’t out of the realm of possibility. It was just the way the jams were called off that was strange – sometimes the DCRG lead jammer was ahead and in the open and called off the jam without even trying to get one or two points before the BBRG jammer could catch the pack. There were some tough blockers on the DCRG team – of particular note was Sk8 Ninja who dished out many hard blocks. The photo at right shows Morgue Ann le Slayer going down after a hit from Sk8 Ninja. Despite the DCRG blocking, there were several jams where the BBRG scored 4 or 5 and DCRG had zero. EMolition, Roseanne Scarr, and Morgue Ann le Slayer were rotating as jammers and at the end of the first period BBRG was ahead by 28 to 13. The photo below shows everyone looking at Roseanne to either block or help her.



The second period was generally more of the same, with a lot of tough blocking. The BBRG had a great rotation of blockers including the Hurt sisters, Hot T. Molly, and Buckhead Betty. There were a couple jams when the BBRG pack was less well organized and not able to help their jammer as well as they could, but in general there was good teamwork and excellent defense! The photo at the right shows Juwana Hurt putting the hurt on a DCRG jammer. The photo below shows the defense on both sides as Morgue Ann gets hit as Buckhead Betty dishes out a hit. At the end of the second period BBRG had opened up their lead and the score was 55-25 in their favor.



The third period saw several other BBRG skaters wearing the jammer star to get more experience and score some points. I probably will miss some folks, but Jewel B. Hurt, Aine Ass, and Hellaina Havoc all got lead jammer status. I think those additions to the jammer rotation helped spread the workload and allowed BBRG to widen their lead even more. The BBRG defense was also tough -- as shown by the Hurt sisters slowing up Envy Miyoni at right. The DCRG fought hard the entire way and they were dishing out their fair share of hard blocks. I haven’t travelled to very many away derby events, but the DCRG crowd has to be one of the most vocal that I’ve heard. It makes for an exciting derby event and must help motivate the DCRG skaters.

The Derby City folks know how to put on a fun derby event. The Kentucky Expo Center is a nice venue (although parking is $6) and they have a solid, clear sound system that made it easy to hear the announcers. The announcers were good and helped to whip the crowd into D-C R-G chants periodically. I’m not convinced about music playing during the jams, but their DJ did a great job picking tunes to add to the excitement.

During the breaks between periods, several of the BBRG folks came over to say hi. That was nice, but I wasn’t sure how well received that would be in the middle of a sea of DCRG fans :^) After the match, Dianne and I were able to talk to several of the BBRG skaters. Special thanks to Buckhead Betty and to Morgue Ann le Slayer for coming up and introducing themselves to Dianne and me. Dianne got a photo of me with Juwana Hurt (above) who had several great hits during the evening. We also got to talk with EMolition and Dianne got a photo of me with her too. It was exciting to see EMolition back in competition and she certainly posted quite a few points for BBRG. We met and talked with BBRG fan T.J., who can’t wait for BBRG to get WFTDA status and take on the Cincinnati Rollergirls in the future. We’re fortunate to have a couple derby teams in the area and there should be some exciting local derby action to see! Finally, we also got to talk with Skinny Minnie who unfortunately did a number on one of her fingers that was really swelling up fast. Hope you are doing ok.

I posted quite a few photos from the bout in a Flickr set that you can see here. There are a couple nice series of photos taken in rapid succession that shows the action unfolding. In particular I liked this series (first, second, and third) showing a sandwich block on Morgue Ann le Slayer that works out well due to some quick thinking in the pack -- and this series (first, second, and third) showing a failed attempt to slow Roseanne Scarr.

Congratulations to all the BBRG team on a big win to finish the season!