June 4 Bout

The NJRD (New Jersey Roller Derby) on its home track in Morristown racked up a victory last night against Suburbia Roller Derby, the very strong visiting team from Westchester. Tough defenses on both sides caused both teams generally to pursue “hit it and quit it” tactics whereby the lead jammer would pick up a few points and then call off the jam before the opposing jammer (seldom far behind) could catch up. NJRD slowly built an early 16-point lead but a power jam by Suburbia #92 Partygirl Accelerator closed the gap to a negligible 65-61. Multiple grand slams by NJRDs #44 Maulin’ Rouge soon recovered a 20 point lead. Both teams fielded several good jammers, but #33 Force Majeur did exceptional work for Suburbia despite solid opposition including one very hard takedown by #88 Bitty Boom Boom. At halftime the score stood at 114-91, far from a secure lead in derby. In the first ten minutes of the second half, a series of effective jams by Maulin Rouge, Sukkubus Strike, and Chase Windu built the lead to 157-98, but Suburbia never allowed the spread to widen further. In the final jam Maulin Rouge broke out as lead jammer and ran out the clock before calling the jam. Final score: 236 – 194 in favor of NJRD.

MVPs: #33 Force Majeur (jammer) and #1921 Krazy Legz Nikki (blocker) for Suburbia; #5 Chase Windu (jammer) and #88 Bitty Boom Boom (blocker) for NJRD.

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The second match of the evening was an intraleague bout of the NJRD Junior Division: https://www.facebook.com/New-Jersey-Roller-Derby-NJRD-Junior-Division-320456894809540/?fref=ts . Divided into well matched White and Blue teams, they demonstrated firm skills on skates. Other obligations prevented me from staying through this bout, but I remained long enough to see some fancy footwork by #21 Breezy, effective jams by #666 Little Red Devil and #6 Luna Chick, and solid blocking by #11 Scarey Carey. Whatever the final outcome may have been, I look forward to seeing them on the track again – in the short term in the current division and in the long term on the adult team.