BALTIMORE, MD -- In the third-place bout for the 2008 Charm City season, the Speed Regime benefitted from three huge jams -- two first-half 13-0 hits from emerging jammer Reckless Ndangerment and a second-period 15-0 from Pistol Whip -- that accounted for nearly half their point total and lifted them to their first win of the season, leaving the 2007 champion Night Terrors in the standings cellar.

See the box score from this bout here.

The Terrors got off on the wrong foot immediately when leadoff jammer Minnie Piledriver got sent off to the penalty box in the first jam. Her penalty would carry over to the second jam, and by the time the first two frames were over, the Speed Regime's Pistol Whip had added 9 points to the 4 that leadoff Regimer Bambi's Revenge had already put up, leaving the Terrors in a 13-0 hole.

Terrors jammer Rosie the Rioter got her team on the board with a 9-4 win in the third jam, which kicked off a string of seven straight lead jams in a row for the scream queens. Though the fourth jam went 3-0 for the Speed Regime's Buzz Kill and moved the score to Regime 20, Terrors 9, the Terrors won the following five jams and were building on a 34-22 lead with less than five minutes to play in the half when Regime captain Reckless Ndangerment exploded twice in short order.

The first time out, in her first jam of the bout, she dropped a 13-0 on rookie Terror Cutz Girl, and after two scoreless jams, the clock came to a stop with just 3 seconds left in the half. However, Reckless took full advantage of the jam clock in that one when her opponent Psycho78 headed off to the box mid-jam, and repeated her feat for another 13-0. In the course of four jams, Reckless had put up 26 unanswered points, exceeded the Regime point total up to that point, and taken all the momentum away from the Terrors by putting her team up 48-34 entering the half.

As the second half started, Psycho busted out of the box to claim lead jammer and drop a 9-0 on opponent Bambi's Revenge that got the Terrors within striking distance at 48-43 ... but that was as close as the Terrors would be able to make it. The half's second jam saw the Speed Regime's Pistol Whip drop a big 15-0 on a penalized Minnie Piledriver, and when Pistol's teammate Deathany took advantage of Minnie's continued residence in the penalty box with a 6-0 win, the Regime was sitting on a 26 point lead at 69-43.

The Terrors would spend the rest of the half slowly forcing their way back into the bout, but although they consistently chipped away at the lead they could not get any of the explosive lopsided jams that had lifted the Regime into the lead.

The score was 81-58 with about five minutes to play when the Terrors made their final run -- Rosie the Rioter took lead and a 7-3 win over Loretta Scars, and then, after a scoreless tie between Reckless Ndangerment and Pixie Rocket, Rosie was back to get a quick 4-0 over the Regime's Rebel Yellow.

That put the margin at 15 points, 84-69, with enough time for one more jam for Reckless against Psycho78 -- but when Psycho got whistled off the track during her opening pass, the win was sealed for the Regime. Psycho managed to earn herself a last-instant ejection for suddenly developing deafness and failing to leave the track, but with Reckless holding lead jammer status, the jam was soon over at 0-0 and the Regime finally got to celebrate the win that had been eluding them since August 2007.

Stats

Reckless Ndangerment had an excellent game with the jam star. She led the Regime in scoring for the first time ever, picking up 30 points on 5 jams, putting up a sparkling jammer point differential of +27, and getting lead jammer on 4 of those 5 jams. In her prenuptial bout, Pistol Whip also excelled with 26 points on 5 jams, outscoring her opponents by 19 points and getting lead three times.

The Regime handed the jam star to a wide variety of players, partially due to having lost key jammer Stormin' Mormon to a freak-accident shoulder dislocation during bout warmups. All in all, 9 of the Regime's 12 available players took the star: Bambi's Revenge (4 jams, 8 points, -9 JPD), Deathany (1 jam, 6 points, +6 JPD), Just Carol (1 jam, 4 points, -5 JPD), Holly Go Hardly (2 jams, 4 points, -1 JPD), Buzz Kill (3 jams, 3 points, -2 JPD), Loretta Scars (4 jams, 3 points, -16 JPD) and Rebel Yellow (1 jam, 0 points, -4 JPD.)

The Night Terrors had a three-jammer rotation led by Rosie the Rioter, who claimed 28 points on 6 jams with a point differential of +17 and took lead on an impressive 5 of 6 jams. Psycho78 got 20 points on 7 jams and was outscored by 2 points; Minnie Piledriver put up 10 points on 8 jam, but a few unfortunately timed trips to the penalty box left her outscored by 28 points.

Backup jammers for the Terrors were Cutz Girl (2 jams, 8 points, -5 JPD) and Pixie Rocket (3 jams, 3 points, +3 JPD.)

The Regime picked up more minors than the Terrors, but the Terrors handily won the major battle -- the Regime racked up 51 minors and 9 majors to 37 minors and 19 majors for the Terrors.

Both the Terrors and Regime end their season 1-4, having split their two games with each other.

Photos: Craig Lammes Photography