Friday

(9w) Duke City 138, (8w) Pikes Peak 99 -- Duke City took an enormous lead very early in this one -- helped in no small part by a tournament-record-setting 25-0 jam from Kamikaze Kim on the bout's 5th jam. They held a 101-45 advantage at the half, but Pikes Peak changed tactics and put together a massive comeback in the second, narrowing it all the way to 114-99 with 7 minutes to play before Duke City finally closed the door on their scoring.  

See feature recap here, and archived boutcast here.

(7w) Tucson 112, (10w) Dallas 52 -- Dallas and Tucson would go punch-for-punch in the opening 12 minutes, but Tucson took control of the match on a mid-first half 15-0 jam for Sloppy Flo and they'd never look back, holding a 63-16 lead at halftime. Dallas would not be able to mount a significant run at Tucson in the second.

See feature recap here, and archived boutcast here.

(5w) Rose City 114 , (12w) Denver 61 -- Rose City opened this game looking like it was going to be a complete cakewalk for them, jumping out to a 52-11 lead with about 12 minutes left in the half. Denver rallied hard, though, putting together a 17-2 run that closed it to 52-28 slightly before halftime, but Rose would again take over in the second half, keeping their lead at around 50 points for the majority of the contest. Denver lost rookie Abbey Rogue for the weekend in this bout to a shoulder injury that had her in a sling at the half and done for the weekend.

There was standout blocking in this one from both teams -- for Denver, Boo Boo Radley and Jersey Trouble's combo blocking at the front of the pack were an integral part of Denver's late-first-half comeback, while Crash Dance dropped more than a few Rose City players with nice booty sweeps. For the Portland girls, Cadillac seemed nearly telepathic in her positional blocking, and imposing Firecrotch repeatedly served as a very dangerous gatekeeper at the front of the pack in her pivot role.

See archived boutcast here.

(6w) Rocky Mountain 141, (11w) Houston 116 -- Houston (ranked 24 nationally) put up a surprisingly tenacious fight against the highly regarded, 12th-ranked nationally crew from Rocky Mountain, holding a 35-30 lead about halfway through the first half on the back of excellent jamming from Savage Rose and Mistilla the Killa. RMRG's Frida Beater, though, delivered two huge first-half jams -- a 20-zip jam that turned Houston's 35-30 lead into a 50-35 deficit in two minutes, and a 15-zip on the half's second to last jam that helped pad the halftime lead to Rocky 68, Houston 47.  

The second half saw Rocky Mountain keeping their lead at about the same margin until about halfway into the last 30, holding a 105-88 lead with 15:28 left. Rocky lost an important pack element in Winona Fighter to ejection, though, when Winona took a Houston player down and tried to deliver a few subtle kicks at her  in the process of rising, but they weren't quite subtle enough. Houston remained just on the edge of a potential comeback for the remainder of the bout, supported vocally by their home crowd, and got as close as 111-97 with 12 minutes to play on a grand slam jam by star Death By Chocolate. But Frida Beater yet again poured cold water on Houston's momentum with a 14-0 to follow that one, and Houston couldn't make up the difference in the time remaining.

See archived boutcast here.

(9w) Duke City 132, (1w) Kansas City 117 -- A shocking upset from Albuquerque's Duke City (ranked 17th nationally) over the #1-in-the-nation and defending WFTDA champions Kansas City propelled Duke City to an unexpected Nationals berth and ended KC's title defense after one bout.

See feature recap here, and archived boutcast here.

(2w) Rat City 170,  (7w) Tucson 81-- Rat City had a very easy time of it in the first half of this one, putting 40 points on the board before Tucson's Carrie Gunns finally got a single point on the board about 15 minutes into the bout. That didn't presage any Tucson comeback, though, as Rat nearly put 100 points between the teams at halftime, 113 to 22.

While Tucson played a much better second half, and actually managed to barely outscore Rat City 59-57, the enormously lopsided first half had ruined any chance Tucson had at the victory, and Rat City advanced to Nationals with the win.

See archived boutcast here.

Consolation bouts: Pikes Peak took a fast-paced, high scoring victory over Houston, 129-116, and Denver handed Dallas their second hurting of the day with a 118-61 win.

Saturday

(4w) Bay Area 120, (5w) Rose City 95 -- Lots of time was spent in the penalty box by both teams in this bout, quite possibly due to the effect of the awkward 8am start time for two West Coast residents. Bay Area had a small lead at 55-37 after the first 30 minutes, but came out of the intermission on fire, extending their advantage to 79-37 three jams deep into the second half with help from consecutive jammer penalties on Rose City.

Rose City, though, responded to Bay Area's 24-0 run by going on a 29-4 run of their own, getting within striking distance at 79-70 with 15:28 to play. They'd squeak two point closer by the time there was 10 minutes to play, with a score of 86-79, but a big 15-0 jam for Grr Lee Burly over a penalized Vominatrix and 4-2 Bay Area pack would be the final nail in Rose City's coffin with 5:23 to play.

Fittingly for this penaltyfest, the game would end in some apparent confusion as to whether the bout could legally end on a jammerless jam, but Bay Area's 120-95 lead was all but insurmountable in any case, and Bay Area eliminated the Portland girls from contention for the Nationals tournament they'll be hosting in mid-November.

See archived boutcast here.

(3w) Texas 173, (6w) Rocky Mountain 50 -- Texas put on an absolute clinic here in the biggest rout of the weekend -- they opened up a 28-4 lead to start, and consistently kept Rocky's jamming crew, especially the particularly dangerous Frida Beater, from gaining lead jammer. With about 20 minutes gone in the first half, it was already 56-11, and Texas would shut out Rocky for almost the last 15 minutes of the period before Frida Beater finally got a 4-0 in the last jam of the half, but by then it was already a lopsided 85-15.

Late in the second half, there was a moment of some concern when Rocky blocker Annia LateHer went down hard and had to be attended to by the EMTs, but after a short break she was able to get off the track under her own power. By that time, though, it was already a massive 154-27 lead for Texas, and Rocky's best jam of the day wouldn't come until there was 0:00 left on the period clock -- with Texas' jammer stuck in the penalty box, Frida put up nearly a third of Rocky's points with a game-ending 15-0 to close the bout at 173-50.

See archived boutcast here.

(4w) Bay Area 117, (9w) Duke City 73 --- Duke City couldn't quite recapture the magic that had lifted them to their unexpected berth in the final four against a Bay Area team playing more aggressively and effectively than Kansas City had been in the semifinal. Duke City drew first blood with a 4-0, but all the subsequent blood would be taken by the BAD girls as they responded with 40 unanswered points. Bay Area's players were consistently able to escape Duke City's swarming, smothering defense that had allowed Duke City to set the pace in their previous win, and that made for a faster, heavier-hitting bout that seemed to work in Bay's favor. Halftime stood at Bay Area 72, Duke City 25.

Duke City seemed particularly bitten by jammer penalties in this bout, especially as their jammers had a tendency to get sent off to the box while holding lead jammer status, squandering most of their chances to narrow the margin. However, late in the second half, they finally hit their stride, able to put up a few of the lopsided double-digit jam wins that had been so critical against KC. While they acquitted themselves honorably in the end by narrowly outscoring Bay Area in the second half 48-45, that early-bout 40-0 run by Bay Area was a blow the Albuquerque crew would not be able to recover from.

See archived boutcast here.

(3w) Texas 108, (2w) Rat City 97 -- In perhaps the most exciting bout of the weekend, Rat City had the upper hand for the majority of the first half, but Texas came back from a 70-47 deficit early in the second half, finally catching Rat City at 85-85 with just under nine minutes to play -- and then passing them on a big 9-0 for Texas jammer Rice Rocket over Ann R. Kissed. The bout ended on a thriller of an extra-time jam, as Texas was sitting jammerless while Rat City's Carmen Getsome needed to make up 14 points in 2 minutes to tie the game -- but Rat City's penalty troubles would sink them, as Carmen was battling against a 4-2 pack in favor of Texas, and she'd eventually get sent off to the box herself during her first scoring pass, ending the bout.

See feature recap here, and archived boutcast here.

Consolation bouts: Kansas City rolled past Denver, 132-90; Rose City sank what looked to be a somewhat dispirited Rocky Mountain, 140-71; home team Houston pleased their fans with a 90-65 over Dallas (in the last bout for Dallas standout Mercy); and Pikes Peak dealt Tucson a defeat for the second time this year, 107-79.

Sunday

(2w) Rat City 158, (9w) Duke City 95 (third place bout) -- Duke City came out looking a bit sharper than they had against Bay Area in their semifinal bout, keeping it very tight at 22-20 for Rat City about halfway through the first 30 minutes. However, just as in the Bay Area bout, they had a long first-half scoring drought that sank their chances -- the margin would increase to 65-20 before Duke City got back on the board late in a half that ended 71-28 for Rat City.

Also, just as in the previous Duke bout against Bay Area, Duke City played a much more effective second half, being outscored by 20 points as opposed to the 43-point shellacking of the first half. They momentarily even looked like they might make a run at the Seattle girls after a 10-0 jam for Muffin followed by a 15-0 for Meep Meep that got them as close as 85-57, but their blocking simply didn't seem to have the reaction time for dealing with the speed of Femme Fatale, Miss Fortune, Blonde 'n Bitchin and the rest of Rat's deep, fast jammer crew.

See archived boutcast here.

(3w) Texas 135, (4w) Bay Area 49 (championship bout) -- Texas took a little while to get going in this bout, but once they started clicking, they put on a commanding performance that left no doubt that they were this year's best in show. Bay Area stepped out to a 27-12 lead after about 13 minutes of play, but the entire bout changed when Texas jammer Lucille Brawl put up a dramatic 14-0 that erased the lead Bay Area had been working all bout long.

Bay Area would never retake the lead and never get any serious momentum going again. Texas outscored Bay Area 28-4 for the rest of that half and then put up a dominant 80-18 showing in the second half, a half that'd see BAD's Taxi Scab getting the thumb after a slightly too-animated disagreement with an official's call. Texas took the #1 seed in the West with this win for November's Nationals tournament.

See archived boutcast here.

Consolation bouts: Kansas City fell into a 30-0 hole against Pikes Peak before roaring back for a 159-71 victory (in the retirement match for Snot Rocket, Xcelerator and Patti Wackin; Snot Rocket would reclaim half of the single-jam scoring record that Duke City's Kamikaze Kim had taken from her on Friday by tying it with a 25-0) and Denver took second-half control to hand Tucson their third loss in a row, 125-91. It was the last match for longtime Tucson star Sloppy Flo.

Team Breakdown

(3w) Texas went 3-0 with wins over Rocky Mountain, Rat City and Bay Area.

(4w) Bay Area went 2-1 with wins over Rose City and Duke City, and a loss to Texas.

(2w) Rat City went 2-1 with wins over Tucson and Duke City, and a loss to Texas.

(9w) Duke City went 2-2 with wins over Pikes Peak and Kansas City, and losses to Bay Area and Rat City.

(5w) Rose City went 2-1 with wins over Denver and Rocky Mountain, and a loss to Bay Area.

(1w) Kansas City went 2-1 with wins over Denver and Pikes Peak, and a loss to Duke City.

(6w) Rocky Mountain went 1-2 with a win over Houston and losses to Texas and Rose City.

(8w) Pikes Peak went 2-2 with wins over Houston and Tucson, and losses to Duke City and Kansas City.

(12w) Denver went 2-2 with wins over Tucson and Dallas, and losses to Kansas City and Rose City.

(11w) Houston went 1-2 with a win over Dallas and losses to Rocky Mountain and Pikes Peak.

(7w) Tucson went 1-3 with a win over Dallas and losses to Pikes Peak, Denver and Rat City.

(10w) Dallas went 0-3 with losses to Tucson, Houston and Denver.

Photos: Kerry McClain, Tony Sodaro