Bout recap: Sac City 102, San Joaquin 95
Posted by Southbayfan on January 2nd, 2008
STOCKTON, CA — In the historic Stockton Civic Auditorium, home venue of the San Joaquin Valley Vixens, the Sac City Rollers and Vixens held one of few bouts in the country on December 29th, the last weekend of 2007. This was a rematch of a March bout in which Sac City rolled to a 151-70 victory at home, but San Joaquin wouldn’t let them have as easy a time of it in their own house. While the home team controlled the first half, holding a 20 point lead at halftime, San Joaquin’s lack of depth at the jammer position would eventually allow visiting Sac City to put together a substantial comeback in a ferocious second half and come out with a 102-95 victory.
Sac City is an older, more experienced league than the Vixens, but the Rollers fielded a team almost entirely of rookies for this excursion. The home Vixens were trying out a new strategy by going to a two jammer rotation — Bad Ass Bully and Tank Her Bell. Sac City brought only three veterans, Sweet Cheeks, Rosie Rampage and Spankenstein (who decided to skate at the last minute, as she was originally coming to serve as bench coach.) The jammers for the Rollers were Rosie Rampage, Spankenstein and Stinger — who had a special insight on her opponents, having been a member of San Joaquin just last June.
The first jam featured both league’s best jammers in Bad Ass Bully for the Vixens and Rosie Rampage for the Rollers. It was a model for the rest of the jams for the period — Bad Ass Bully raced ahead of Rosie Rampage, squeezed by Sac City’s rookie blockers, got lead jammer, and did it again to score 4-0, calling it off to give the early lead to the Vixens. The Vixens’ Tank Her Bell and the Rollers’ Stinger then went a full 2 minutes with Sac City coming out ahead 5-3. That was the only jam win for Sac City in the opening minutes, though, and after six jams the Vixens would be sporting a 22-11 lead. With the Sac City rookie blockers having serious trouble handling the speed of Bad Ass Bully and San Joaquin blockers Kamikaze Kate and Chupacabra knocking down Sac City blockers and jammers alike, things were looking tough for the Rollers.
But the Rollers would rally in the next four jams. Sac City’s Rosie Rampage finally got the best of Bad Ass Bully 3-1, and then Tank Her Bell and Stinger tied a two minute jam 2-2. After Spankenstein and Rosie’s jams put 7 points on the board for Sac City to just one for San Joaquin, the score stood at San Joaquin 26, Sac City 23, but that was as close as the Rollers would make it in the half. Two jams later, Bad Ass Bully took advantage of a power play to go 10-0 over Spankenstein, and repeated the margin a couple of jams after that with an impressive 13-3 run against Stinger, and the Vixens had exploded to a twenty-one point lead. The Rollers were only able to make up one point before time expired in the half, leaving the Vixens with a commanding 61 to 41 advantage.
The second half started the same as the first, with Bad Ass Bully torching Stinger 4-0, but Sac City’s Spankenstein got it right back with a 4-0 over Tank Her Bell. Both teams traded jam wins over the first 12 minutes of the half, but San Joaquin continued to get the better of the Sac City girls, holding a 79 to 52 lead with about 18 minutes to play.
At this point, Sac City changed tactics, putting in Spankenstein as a blocker and moving Sweet Cheeks into her spot in the jammer rotation — a move that seemed to give Sac City slightly more success in the pack. In this new environment, Sac City’s Rosie Rampage went for an epic 2 minute jam against Tank Her Bell that featured some of the hardest hitting in the bout — and a major momentum swing for the visitors. At the end of the jam Rosie had pulled out thirteen points to Tank’s five, with Rosie collapsing in front of her bench at the end of the jam and crawling back to her seat with the assistance of her teammates.
San Joaquin’s jamming duo was clearly showing signs of fatigue at this point, and the Sac City blockers were getting better opportunities to take them out. With about 12 minutes to play, Sac City was slowly cutting into San Joaquin’s lead, which stood at 88-66.
Sac City then went on to take full advantage of San Joaquin’s Tank Her Bell sitting a spell in the penalty box. Sweet Cheeks, jamming unopposed, quickly got a 5-0 grand slam, and then Rosie Rampage started the next jam also alone for Sac City. Another two minute jam would once again translate into a big margin for Sac City, as Rosie ran up 14 points to the late-arriving Tank Her Bell’s 4. Suddenly, the score was 92 to 85 Vixens with seven minutes to play, and Sac City had gone from barely staying in the game to contending for the victory. The intensity was being significantly ratcheted up — and so were the hits, which had gone from brutal to vicious.
The Vixens now jammed star Bad Ass Bully exclusively, but she was almost entirely out of gas. The slower she skated, the harder the Rollers hit her — and the harder the Rollers hit her, the slower she skated. In the next jam Sac City’s Stinger lapped Bully and called it off, whittling the San Joaquin lead to just two points at 92-90 with five minutes left. Sac City would finally take a 95-92 lead on the next jam as Sweet Cheeks also scored a shutout grand slam.
With Bad Ass Bully apparently injured and exhausted, San Joaquin finally fielded a relief jammer, Evil Angel — but Rosie Rampage would once again deny the home team any points, calling off the jam at 4-0 for Sac City. With a minute and a half left and seven points to make up for the last jam, Bad Ass Bully made her final appearance to face Stinger … and while Bully somehow found the energy reserves to put up 3 points, Stinger would do the same. Sac City pulled out an audacious comeback, winning 102-95.
For the Vixens, star jammer Bad Ass Bully scored a game high 63 points, and Vixens blockers Kamikaze Kate and Chupacabra were murder on the Sac City Rollers. For the Rollers, Rosie Rampage had a team-leading 43 points and blockers Spankenstein and Thunder Cat inflicted similar crimes on the Vixens.
Sac City now takes a few months off to recharge for their 2008 season — their next bout is an intraleague battle on March 22nd. San Joaquin will also be dormant for a few months, with their next scheduled battle set for March 15 against a home team from the San Diego Derby Dolls.
January 2nd, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Wow, what an editing job! You took my crap and made it look like it was done by a pro. I missed the human interest bits though.
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Sounds like San Joaquin’s coach had some smart strategy going in. Sometimes when a league has two outstanding jammers like that, they work them to death, and that usually kills any momentum they build up in the 1st half of the game. Sounds like they need endurance drills, and forcing one of their blockers to take the plunge and start training in jamming drills occasionally.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:01 am
CORRECTION: San Joaquin will be playing one of the San Diego Derby Dolls’ home teams in San Diego on March 15, 2008. ACDG will be playing San Diego’s All Stars in this double header.
January 4th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Thanks for the correction, Isabelle — updated.