Charlotte Roller Girls All Stars Face Loss After Hard-fought Bout Against the Atlanta Denim Demons

On Saturday July 14th the Charlotte Roller Girls All-Stars suffered a tough loss to the Atlanta Roller Girls Denim Demons. Both teams fought extremely hard in this fast-paced, rough game. Penalties were also kept to a minimum, demonstrating the skill of both teams.

Charlotte Roller Girls fielded speed skater Do U Juana in the first jam of the night to take on Atlanta’s jammer Choke Cherry. The bout started off with a quick no-pack start releasing both jammers into walls of 4 opposing skaters. Choke Cherry escaped past her wall of Charlotte blockers first and earned lead jammer, but was recycled back into the pack. It took both jammers over 1 minute to finally break free from the pack, setting the tone for the intensity of the battle that would continue for the rest of the night. Neither jammer was able to score any points in the first jam.

Lykr C’leen was the next Charlotte jammer to take the line against the Denim Demon’s Shovely Rita, who broke out of the pack first but didn’t earn lead jammer. She did, however, put the first points on the board, earning a grand slam for passing Charlotte’s jammer. Lykr finally pushed through the pack, earning lead jammer status and immediately calling off the jam.

In the next jam, Charlotte added their first points to the board as Rosie Cheeks earned lead jammer status against Atlanta’s jammer, Hate Ashbury and picked up 2 points.

Bashionista took the jammer star for the All-Stars next against Atlanta’s powerhouse jammer Switchblade Siouxsie, who pushed her way straight though Charlotte’s 4 person wall earning an almost immediate lead jammer status. Bashionista struggled against the Denim Demon’s defense and eventually passed the star to Lykr C’leen who battled her own way through the pack, but not before Switchblade Siouxsie earned 14 points for Atlanta.

Do U Juana returned to the line in the next jam against Choke Cherry, who earned lead jammer status and picked up another 4 points for Atlanta before being sent to the box on a major track cut. Do U Juana took advantage of her power jam scoring 8 points for the home team.

Ten minutes into the first half, Charlotte sent the newest addition to the All-Stars’ jammer rotation, Hitsteria, to the line against Hate Ashbury. Hitsteria juked and jived her way through Atlanta’s walls and earned 4 points before calling the jam.

Lykr C’leen returned to the track in the next jam against Switchblade Siouxsie, who earned lead jammer status and 9 more points for Atlanta before Lykr broke through the pack with the help of her blockers.

Rosie Cheeks was the next Charlotte jammer to add points to the board, picking up 4 over Choke Cherry, bringing the score to 19 to 32 in favor of the visiting team.

Do U Juana lined up on the jammer line next against Hate Ashbury, who earned lead jammer status. Hate Ashbury only picked up 4 points as Do U Juana followed not far behind. Do U Juana grabbed one point at the end of the jam before Atlanta’s jammer was able to call it off.

Hitsteria returned to the track next against Shovely Rita. Hitsteria laid a good hit on Shovely right off the jammer line but got tangled up in the pack allowing Shovely Rita to get through the pack first and add 4 more points to the Denim Demon’s total.

Rosie Cheeks bumped up the All-Stars score a little in the next jam against Choke Cherry, adding two more points to the board.

Lykr C’leen faced off against Switchblade Siouxsie next. Siouxsie broke through the pack first, but picked up a minor making her ineligible for lead jammer status. Lykr fought hard at the front of the pack and almost broke through but was recycled and had to fight her way back out again. She finally earned lead jammer status and immediately called off the jam, but only after Siouxsie picked up 7 points for Atlanta.

Hitsteria had some success in her next turn with the jammer star, earning lead jammer status and 4 points, while Charlotte’s defense did a good job of holding the Denim Demon jammer, Hate Ashbury, in the pack.

With less than ten minutes in the first half, Do U Juana returned to the line against Choke Cherry. Do U Juana started off the jam with some jammer on jammer defense, trying to push Cherry into the 4 wall of Charlotte blockers, but quickly abandoned her plan as a hole opened up in Atlanta’s defensive wall. Unfortunately, during her scoring pass she got tangled up in the pack and missed Choke Cherry’s approach, calling off the jam too late, matching 4 points for 4 points.

Rosie Cheeks was the next skater to take on Atlanta’s Switchblade Siouxsie. Rosie spent some time in the pack playing defense in a wall with her blockers. Siouxsie started to look a little worse for the wear, especially as Charlotte power blocker Vibrant Thing laid a solid hit on her as she tried to escape the front of the pack. Rosie Cheeks picked up 13 points, while Siouxsie struggled with Charlotte’s strong defensive walls.

After a short referee timeout to evaluate penalties, Hitsteria took the jammer line against Choke Cherry, who broke through the pack first despite being down 2 blockers. Hitsteria was able to push forward through the pack getting through on an out of play call causing Choke Cherry to end the jam after earning 4 points, bringing the scores to 43 to 55 in favor of the Atlanta Denim Demon’s with just over 5 minutes left in the half.

In one of the few penalty heavy jams, Do U Juana took the track against Shovely Rita with a full Charlotte penalty box. However, she didn’t let those odds stop her and earned lead jammer status and 2 points before shutting down the jam, closing the point gap to within 10 points.

Lykr C’leen was the next All- Star jammer to take the track against the Denim Demon’s Cancer Candy. Lykr emerged from the pack first with lead jammer status, but had to call the jam with Cancer Candy right on her heels.

Hitsteria and Choke Cherry put on a demonstration of fancy footwork in the next jam. Hitsteria started by playing defense on Choke Cherry, trying to set her up for the Charlotte blockers. Choke Cherry skipped around to the outside of the pack and earned lead jammer status. Hitsteria, not to be outdone, fought with Atlanta’s defense for a lap before pushing her way through on the inside line narrowly escaping sliding out of bounds. Choke Cherry earned 4 points before calling off the jam.

Do U Juana also decided to play defense on Atlanta’s jammer, Cancer Candy, in the next jam. After pushing Cancer Candy into Charlotte’s defensive wall she fought her own way through the pack to earn lead jammer status and 4 points on an out of play call before the end of the jam.

With less than a minute left in the first half Lykr C’leen took the line against Choke Cherry, who earned lead jammer but lost her opportunity to pick up more points when Rosie Cheeks laid a hard hit on her in the back of the pack, knocking her down to the inside and forcing her to call the jam as Lykr approached scoring position.

This first half ended with the Charlotte Roller Girls trailing the Atlanta Denim Demons with the score at 49 to 63.

Rosie Cheeks took the line for the first jam of the second period against Choke Cherry. With two of Charlotte’s power blockers, Amy Fister and Vibrant Thing, in the penalty box Rosie Cheeks was unable to break through the pack before Choke Cherry, who picked up all four points before calling the jam.

Lykr C’leen was the next Charlotte skater to take the star against Switchblade Siouxsie. Both teams started the jam down one blocker although Charlotte soon lost another. Siouxsie added 4 points to her team’s total before Katch Her in The Rye swept her feet out from under her with a powerful hit as the jam was ending.

Do U Juana earned lead jammer over Hate Ashbury as she ran to the outside of the scrum start pack without any of the Atlanta blockers noticing. The Charlotte defense recycled Hate Ashbury back into the pack long enough for Do U Juana to grab 5 points for Charlotte.

Hitsteria added another point to Charlotte’s total in her next jam against Switchblade Siouxsie before getting blocked by a wall of Atlanta defense and calling off the jam.

Lykr C’leen took another turn on the track against Choke Cherry who pushed through a wall of Charlotte blockers while they were preoccupied with trying to hold back an Atlanta blocker to create the pack in the back and allow Lykr through the front wall on an out of play call. Choke Cherry picked up 12 more points for Atlanta, further widening the gap in points between the two teams.

Charlotte tried to close the gap over the next few jams as Rosie Cheeks gained 4 more points for Charlotte in the next jam against Shovely Rita. Hitsteria also earned 4 points, while BoToxic Bruz’her recycled Atlanta’s jammer, Switchblade Siouxsie, back into the pack buying Charlotte more time to clear the pack.

Do U Juana added 7 more points to Charlotte’s total against Choke Cherry after pushing Cherry into the wall of Charlotte blockers off the line. Atlanta, with two skaters in the box, showed how badly they wanted to maintain their lead as the pack began to get very rough.

Atlanta took a time out to regroup and try to break Charlotte’s momentum. They were successful as Switchblade Siouxie earned lead jammer status ahead of Hitsteria in the next jam and gained back the 7 points they lost to Do U Juana in the previous jam.

Charlotte ran into some bad luck in the next jam when Rosie Cheeks was sent to the box for a 4th minor after earning lead jammer status. The All Stars defense did a good job of killing the penalty time only allowing Atlanta’s jammer, Candy Cancer, to score 10 points. Rosie Cheeks, emerging from the penalty box unseen, raced through the pack and earned 5 points before Candy Cancer noticed and called off the jam.

With a little more than 15 minutes left in the game, Lykr C’leen faced off against Swtichblade Siouxsie next. Siouxsie earned lead jammer status but only picked up two points before Vibrant Thing blocked her to the ground where she called off the jam, but not before Lykr was able to earn 3 points.

Hitsteria took the star and the lead jammer status next against Hate Ashbury, but was too late in calling off the jam as Hate Ashbury picked up 3 points before she could earn any of her own.

Charlotte called a timeout to regroup but ran into some more penalty trouble in the next jam as their jammer Do U Juana was sent to the box for cutting the track on the inside line, leaving Choke Cherry on a power jam. She earned 9 points for the Denim Demons before Do U Juana returned to the track.

Charlotte tried a new strategy sending power blocker and pinch-hitter Bashionista to the line against Shovely Rita. Bashionista was unable to break through Atlanta’s defense while her blockers, trying to help her through the wall, missed Shovely Rita skating through the pack two times, virtually untouched. Shovely Rita racked up a total of 20 points before the end of the jam.

After a referee timeout to clear up some penalty issues, the game resumed with 6 minutes and 50 seconds left with Atlanta leading Charlotte 139 to 75. Rosie Cheeks took the jammer line against Switchblade Siouxsie, who earned lead jammer status despite being down two blockers. Rosie broke through the pack not too far behind her, only allowing Siouxsie to gain 3 points.

Charlotte finished the last few jams strongly with Hitsteria earning lead jammer against Hate Ashbury. Unfortunately she hit the back of the pack with too much speed and slid into the back of the pack and had to call the jam as hate Ashbury was quickly approaching.

With a little over 4 minutes left in the game Rosie Cheeks broke through the pack first, but was followed directly by Choke Cherry and ended another scoreless jam.

Do U Juana earned lead jammer status and 9 points in the next jam, while her blockers played tough defense against a tired Switchblade Siouxsie.

With 1 minute 52 seconds left in the game, Hitsteria took the line against Hate Ashbury. Charlotte had two skaters sitting in the box while the Denim Demons were down one blocker. Hate Ashbury earned lead jammer status but was recycled back into the pack as Hitsteria pushed her way through. Hate Ashbury earned 3 points and Hitsteria picked up 2.

With 46 seconds left on the clock Do U Juana lined up for the last jam against Shovely Rita, who earned lead jammer status by pushing her way through the inside line of the pack. She was unable to earn any more points before being forced to call the jam.

The bout ended with a victory for the Atlanta Denim Demons with the final score standing at 86 to 145.