(Updated: to adjust final score.)
On Saturday, February 16, 2008, you could feel the walls of Bladeworld vibrating for about a quarter mile around because of what was going on inside.
This was the rivalry that pits the #4 ranked Texas Rollergirls (TXRG) Texecutioners against the #6 ranked Tucson Roller Derby (TRD) Saddletramps. The last time these two teams met was in December, 2006 and in that bout, Tucson beats Texas 62-60 in overtime.
While some were expecting this to be a battle between TRD's Sloppy Flo and TXRG's Rice Rocket, there were several other jammers that definitely came through.
For Tucson, while Sloppy Flo scored 39 points but Sami Automatic was up there with 29 points. For Texas, in addition to Rice Rocket's 22 points, other significant contributors were Vicious Van Gogh Gogh (20 pts.), Bloody Mary (16 pts.) and Olivia Shootin' John (13 pts.).
The first jam of the bout starts with Carrie Gunns jamming for Tucson going against Olivia Shootin' John for Texas. Carrie breaks early and gets lead jam. Olivia does not break until too late. The jam goes for an entire 2 minutes and Tucson is up 4-0.
In the 5th jam of the bout, Tucson would lose it's lead as Vicious Van Gogh Gogh scores 10 points while Tucson's Sloppy Flo, who fell earlier in turn 2 finally breaks just before the end of the jam. That takes Texas up 13-10 and Tucson would never see the lead again.
For Tucson, one of their best assets is team captain Sloppy Flo. She has been called one of the nation's fastest derby skaters. In this bout she skated two 10-point and a 12-point jam. For Texas, Vicious Van Gogh Gogh and Bloody Mary had 10 and 11 point jams respectively.
Third to the last jam of the bout with about 2 minutes remaining in the second (and final) period with the score 80-67 Texas, TXRG's Bloody Mary gets sent to the box, which opened the way for TRD's Sloppy Flo to try to catch up. Flo answers the call and jams past 10 skaters to bring TRD within 3 points, 77-80.
As we go into the second to the last jam, the scoreboard was displaying 86-81, Texas. However, there was a time out being called by Tucson which at first the refs decided not to pick it up but then they eventually do. At the same time, the scoreboard gets adjusted to 82-81, Texas. The crowd was roaring louder than before as Tucson is now within 1 of winning.
Final jam, just slightly over one minute to go. Rice Rocket against Sloppy Flo. As the jammer whistle blows, Rice lunges a bit at Flo. Neither skater had enough time to break and score.
(Updated 2/21 to add: We had the final score as being 82-81. However TRD has reported a final score of 86-81. Since the scoreboard originally read 86-81 and then was adjusted back, we can assume that these points were given back later. We have put a request into TRD for a clarification but we believe that the points were added in jam 34 (second to last jam). Once we get the clarification from TRD, we will update our stats PDF document.)
With that said, here's your final score:
Texas Rollergirls 86
Tucson Roller Derby 81
For jam-by-jam information and more detailed stats, see our Michi-chan Bout Summary at michichan.com! (2025 note: We did recover that bout summary PDF file)
The Saddletramps' next bout will be on May 31 when TRD takes on the Bay Area Derby Girls.
The Tucson/Texas bout was a part of what was being promoted as the Arizona Derby Love Weekend. In addition to that event, we had three other events take place on the same weekend.
Prior to the Texas bout, there was a scrimmage in Phoenix between the Arizona Bruisers and a squad from Duke City Derby. In this scrimmage, Duke City beat the Bruisers 91-83.
On Sunday after these bouts, Bladeworld hosted a co-ed scrimmage which included skaters from TRD, Derby Brats, Tucson Men's Derby, AZRD, Gotham, Duke City and Texas. It was a definitely fun scrimmage to watch, especially seeing the guys "bout" for the first time. If you want to keep score, the White Team beat the Black Team 96-83.
On Sunday afternoon was the Championship bout of the Tucson Derby Brats. The 1-1 Green Scream were taking on the 1-1 Violet Femmes. Unfortunately, the penalty plagued Green Scream was not putting the points on the board and eventually fell to the Violet Femmes 100-46. This was the first 100 point bout involving a Derby Brats team in Tucson.
The next derby action is on March 1. You will have a choice between going to Arizona Derby Dames in Phoenix or making the roadtrip and check out the Tucson Roller Derby's first bout.
Michi-chan and Dan Got Poop will be in TUCSON to watch the TRD season opener. We'll see you there!!!!
This was a great weekend. Sorry for getting this article in late. It's just a lot going on.
=m
THE ARIZONA DERBY REPORT
Michelle A. Eyre/Michi-chan
http://www.michichan.com
