Recap April 29 Derby – Not a Shore Thing

Yesterday in Morristown was a double header. A junior division bout preceded the adult match.

First up was the home NJRD Small Stars vs. the visiting Jersey Jr. Roller Derby. Junior division bouts often are surprisingly hard-fought and competitive, and that proved to be the case last night. The Jersey Jrs jumped to an early lead with a very fast #5 Julia Goulia putting 18 on the board in the first jam, a prelude to similar performances by her throughout the game. Other Jr jammers, including #222 Susie Sparkles and #20 Dirty Dan, assisted by good blocking tactics by their teammates also proved adept. The Small Stars kept in the game, however, as blocking stiffened and points were gained by their own jammers including #15 Fast n Furious and #10 Mia Slam. At halftime the score was a very competitive 95 - 133 in favor of the Jrs. The second half began with an exceptional multipass jam by Jr skater #9 Wild One. Both teams skated hard, but the Jrs built on their lead. The Jersey Jrs took the match with a final score of 215 – 330.

MVPs:

For Small Stars – #377 Crush n Skulls as blocker, #10 Mia Slam as jammer

For Jersey Jrs – #666 Psycho Si as blocker, #5 Julia Ghoulia as jammer 

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In the adult bout the home New Jersey Roller Derby (NJRD) hosted the Jersey Shore Roller Girls. The Jersey Shore repeatedly has skated against both Morristown derby leagues over the past several years with mixed results, so there was no safe way to predict the outcome of this match.

The NJRD got off to a portentous start with #11 Tuff Crust Pizza scoring 25 points in the first jam. Assisted by good tactical blocking #100 Tkatch Money and #1793 Queen Guillotine for NJRD also made repeated multi-passes through the pack throughout the match. The NJRD has built up a depth of effective jammers in the past few seasons and the results are showing. Jersey Shore remained in the game, more than once overcoming stiff blocking with star passes to #1732 BlackEye Betty and making the most of power jams, including a strong one by #42 Veruca S. Salt. #570 Slammabelle Lee was able to force her way through opposition walls. On this occasion though, it wasn’t enough. Final score was 251 – 86 in favor of NJRD.

MVPs:

For Jersey Shore – #33 Stoli as blocker, #570 Slammabelle Lee as jammer

For NJRD – #100 Tkatch Money as blocker, #11 Tuff Crust Pizza as jammer