Feb 23, 2015 | Bout News
Garda Belts Edge Out Rockits 123-122 at Pack Mentality
By Fire Wally
The Garda Belts will get a chance to defend their Season 10 title in Season 11, as a win over the Rockits in the semifinal bout will put them in the final against the Dagger Dolls. The Gardas won a close, back-and-forth bout by a single point, 123-122.
The Garda Belts started with the advantage during the second bout of the evening, with jammer Ida Sockher pushing her way to lead jammer and earning 5 points while Shiva Shank’n held the Rockits jammer Harmony Killerbruse by blasting her to the outside of the track. The Gardas would notch that lead up to 9 and then 12, holding the Rockits to 0 through the first five minutes.
Tegan N. Scare-Ya, Harmony, and Rhea Volt then took turns jamming to earn those points back for the Rockits, fighting back to a 17-12 Rockits lead with 10 minutes left in the first half. However, Shiva Shank’n would then take the momentum back for the Garda Belts in spectacular fashion. Shiva took advantage of a power jam opportunity to earn 10 points on the next jam, but then a penalty at the end of the jam put her in the Surly Furious Sin Bin to start the jam after. Coming out of the penalty box to earn lead jammer, Shiva then skated for 14 more points. Assisted by some precision offense by Second Hand Smoke and good jammer containment from Knoxher Blockoff, Shiva put the Gardas up 36-17 with 6 minutes remaining left in the half. The Gardas would continue to ride that lead into the halftime break, ending the half up 57-38.
The second half of this bout neatly broke down into two defensive stands followed by a thrilling finish. The first of those defensive stands was to the advantage of the Rockits, who held the Garda Belts to 57 points for four jams in a row. Led by blockers Scarmen Hellectra, MadRad, and Ana Stick, the red wall held back the Garda jammers long enough for Rockit jammers Harmony Killerbruise and Rhea Volt to bring the score up to 92-65 Rockits with 12 minutes left on the clock.
The Gardas then struck back with a defensive stand of their own, however, holding the Rockits scoreless for 6 jams in a row this time. A deep crew of jammers contributed to this Gardas run, with Frigid O’Shaughnessy, Second Hand Smoke, Shiva Shank’n, Ida Sockher, and Crust Almighty all taking turns wearing the jammer star to bring the Gardas score up to 115. On the blocking side, Crust, Smoke, and Shiva kept the Rockits jammers contained jam after jam, freeing up Scootaloo, Olga Olgithorpe, and Siren Annie to engage in some offensive blocking and bust holes in the wall for their jammer. With the Gardas up 115-92 and 3 minutes on the clock, we flipped toward the stunning conclusion.
With the Gardas hurting from penalties on the previous jam, Harmony Killerbruise earned lead jammer for the Rockits quickly by juking around sole Garda blocker Second Hand Smoke. Ida Sockher managed to get out of the pack as well, but Harmony decided to keep going rather than call off the jam, scoring 17 and bringing the Rockits closer 109-123. On the following jam, Shiva Shank’n had Garda fans on their feet by squeezing through the middle of the pack, but their hopes were tamped by a major forearm penalty from the refs. It was then up to Tara Bichapart, Citizen Pain, and Bettie LaRude to contain Rhea Volt jamming for the Rockits. Volt did 13 points worth of damage, but the Gardas were still up by one point as the Rockits called a timeout with 0:15 on the clock.
The tension that took 39 minutes and 45 seconds to build then snapped in a moment, as Garda jammer Second Hand Smoke exploded through a hole on the outside line. Smoke earned lead jammer, tapped her hips as time expired, and sent the Garda Belts to the Golden Skate championship bout.
Bout Highlights
First Half 14:00 – Scarmen Hellectra shows a perfect example of “recycling” – one of my favorite derby slang terms. Second Hand Smoke pushes through the Rockit wall, but then Scarmen sprints up ahead of her and it’s like Smoke has a whole new Scarmen to pass! Recycling!
Second Half – Harmony Killerbruise and Rhea Volt combine to jam 12 of the 13 jams in the second half. If you’ve never jammed in a derby bout before, imagine running at an all-out sprint for 1-2 minutes, resting for 1-2 minutes, then doing it again, six times in a row. Now try doing it with Garda Belts trying to knock the stuffing out of you.
Second Half 11:00 – Garda Belt blocker Beach Slap puts a solid hit on Rhea Volt to knock her into the infield, then booty blocks her long enough for Tara Bichapart to come and knock Volt to the ground. Ouch.
Second Half 6:00 – Crust Almighty is best known as a tenacious blocker, but she shows her talents as a jammer here. Makes one scoring pass by brute-force stretching out the wall, then on the next one dances through the inside line on her tippy-toe-stops for another 5 points.
Second Half 1:00 – For this one, we go to Minnesota RollerGirls announcer Stalker Channing with the call: “Manilla Ice just laaaaaid out Bettie LaRude. NOT an easy feat. That’ll end in the penalty box”