Charm City rallys to beat Texas

Excellent team blocking keyed a late rally as the Charm City Roller Girls defeated the Texas Texecutioners 156-148. This WFTDA-sanctioned bout took place Sunday night in Austin, Texas.

The Texas Rollergirls started off strong in this home bout, rolling out to a 31-0 lead. In the opening scoring run, Luce Bandit scored nine points for Texas in the third jam and Olivia Shootin' John scored 15 points in the fifth jam of the night.

The 31-point lead didn't last for long as the Charm City All Stars started chipping away, and then added a huge 19-point jam by Lady Quebeam narrowing the lead to 31-28 after ten jams. The Texas Rollergirls countered with their own big jam in the 13th jam of the first half with Luce Bandit scoring 12 points giving Texas a 48-31 lead.

Both teams added points in the final jams of the half, and finally in the 22nd and last jam of the first half, neither team got lead jammer status while Lady Quebeam scored 12 points for Charm City, and Luce Bandit scored 11 points for the home team. Texas took a 78-65 lead into halftime.

The visiting team from Baltimore cut into the lead in the fourth jam of the final period as Dolly Rocket put up a 12-4 jam to make the score 84-80 in favor of Texas. A 16-8 jam where neither team gained lead jammer allowed Texas and Olivia Shootin' John to gain more ground. This jam was absolute blocking mayhem with both teams slowing down the pack at various times that allowed Texas to move out to a 112-91 lead.

The visiting team's Holden Grudges struck back with a huge 19-0 score in the 12th jam of the half as the lead was narrowed to only a point at 117-116 in favor of Texas. Texas added a few points here and there in this very physical battle to take a 127-120 lead after the 17th jam.

Charm City struck with the big jam of the night that swung the bout in the 18th jam. The Texecutioners' jammer appeared to split the front wall of Charm City blockers, but she was called off the track for what appeared to be a fourth minor, with an illegal procedure signal by the jammer ref, to the great displeasure of the sold out Texas home crowd and the Texecutioners' bench.

Flo Shizzle took advantage of Charm City's amazing team blocking. She scored on pack pass after pack pass, as the team from Baltimore was able to drive Texas blockers out of bounce, and then skate clockwise, against the normal counter clockwise direction, to try to trap the blockers into cutting the track penalties. As Flo Shizzle sped around the track, the pack appeared to actually move back towards her as Charm City's trapping game slowly drove the pack clockwise.

Texas eventually committed enough fouls to send two blockers to the penalty box. Earlier in the evening, the Charm City All Stars drilled in warm-ups before the bout for this very opportunity to knock skaters out of bounds, with amazing footwork quickly stopping and skating clockwise for several feet. By the end of this jam, the team from Baltimore had put up 24 points and taken a 144-127 lead to the dismay of the fans in Austin.

The home team was still in penalty trouble with blockers in the box in the next jam, and Just Carol took advantage of that situation to score four more points and expand Charm City's lead to 148-127. Even when Texas blocking became effective, it was not enough to eat into the visiting team's lead. Flo Shizzle got lead jammer, but was reeled back into the pack by a Texecutioners' blocker. With lead jammer status she skated at the back of the pack, but Texas took a while to get their jammer out of the pack, so that most of the jam time ticked off the game clock.

With 34 seconds left on the game clock and the visiting team was up 148-129, Bloody Mary lined up for Texas and took lead jammer status. She made one scoring pass, and then another to the roaring cheers of the home crowd, but the Charm City jammer Holden Grudges broke out of the pack almost guaranteeing that Texas would not be able to make up the 19 point deficit. Still, Bloody Mary did not give up and scored a third pack pass, but Texas could not stop Holden Grudges from scoring a pack pass on her own and making a second pass attempt. As the Charm City jammer was attacking the pack for a second scoring run, she was knocked outside the track by a Texas blocker, and did not get up, with the refs finally calling off the jam for injury with six seconds left on the clock.

While the Texas fans knew that Bloody Mary had scored quite a few points, there was not much doubt she had not scored enough, 17 points officially, and Charm City waited to celebrate their 154-146 victory until their teammate was finished being helped by the EMTs at the bout.

The leading scorers for the Charm City Roller Girls were Lady Quebeam with 41 points, Flo Shizzle with 32 points, Holden Grudges with 28 points, and Just Carol with 22 points. Top blockers for the team from Baltimore were Joy Collision, Holly GoHardly, Dolly Rocket, and Rosie the Rioter.

The top scorers for the Texas Rollergirls were Bloody Mary with 56 points, Olivia Shootin' John with 54 points and Luce Bandit with 36 points. The leading blockers for the Texas Rollergirls included Belle Starr, Curvette, Lucille Brawl, and Babe Ruthless.

The next bout for the Texas Rollergirls will be at home on July 25th in their championship bout as the Hotrod Honeys takes on the Hustlers, and the Hell Marys skate against the Honky Tonk Heartbreakers. The upcoming Texas bout. The next bout for the Charm City All Stars will be on July 24 as they host the Denver Roller Dolls as part of a home double header.