Texas Shootout Bout Recap: Texas 108, Windy City 56
Posted by Justice Feelgood Marshall on September 30th, 2007
Windy City had established a sudden reputation as giant killers after surprising Sin City, Madison and Carolina in the past few months, but the magic wouldn’t extend to knocking off the mighty Texas. While Windy City put up a strong fight, Texas was simply too much for them, and the home team ground out a punishing 108-56 victory to advance to the semifinals of the Texas Shootout.
It was a fairly tight contest for about the first 20 minutes of play. Texas grabbed a fairly significant lead on the first jam of the bout, when Windy City jammer Malice in Chains had a lot of trouble clearing a tight pack while Texas jammer Bloody Mary managed to gain a lap point on her in the course of going 9-0. Windy City struck back on the next jam, as Texas jammer Buckshot went to the box during the jam and Windy City’s Hoosier Mama was able to get a 5-0. The third jam narrowed the score by one more point, as Eva Dead claimed lead jammer on her way to a 4-3 jam over Lady X, making the score Texas 12, Windy City 9. Texas would narrowly win the next few jams, but the notoriously boisterous Windy City cheering section got a reason to go wild on Jam 8, as their jammer Yvette Yourmaker managed to get Windy City’s highest point total of the half, lapping Texas jammer Lucille Brawl on an 8-1 jam that made the score Texas 24, Windy City 19 with about 15 minutes to play in the period. Still, though, things started to tilt significantly in the Texas direction a few jams later. After Eva Dead made the score Texas 33, Windy City 23 with a 4-1 win over Buckshot, the Windy City offense stalled out at 23 for five crucial jams near the end of the half, unable to get in a second scoring pass against heavy hitting from the Texas blockers. Meanwhile, Texas would repeatedly take lead jammer, putting together a 20-0 run that put them in control of the game. Malice in Chains managed to get 4 points on the last jam of the half, but it was only enough to tie opponent Buckshot, and the teams went to the locker rooms with Texas holding a thirty-point lead at 57-27.
Rice Rocket has her own signal for lead jammer. Photo credit: insanitylabs
Windy City needed to open the second half big to get back in the game, but instead, it would be Texas delivering the knockout blows almost immediately. They got lead jammer on the half’s first three jams, using it to outscore Windy City 20-2 and push the score to an all-but-insurmountable 77-29. From that point out, the margin would remain at about 50 points, with all Windy City jam wins replied to in kind by Texas. Texas did start sending out a slightly more varied jammer lineup in the second half, with Rice Rocket, Dinah Mite, Trouble and Cat Tastrophe all seeing their first jammer action in the second thirty minutes — a testament to Texas’ depth at the position. While Windy City was able to keep the lead jammer battle more even in this half, it wouldn’t be enough to help them make any inroads against a Texas defense that was playing as smart as they were playing hard. In the end, the Windy City girls became the victims of the third seeding upset in a row, 108-56, and Texas went on to get a long-anticipated semifinals rematch with the team that knocked them out of Dust Devil 2007, Rat City.
Additional reporting: Reckless Ndangerment, Charm City Roller Girls