Bout Recap – Dollz Beat the Babes in Bemidji!
Dollz Beat the Babes in Bemidji
Sioux Falls Roller Dollz versus Babe City Rollers, Bemdiji, MN – Saturday, May 5th
It was truly a triumph of the underdogs when the Dollz skated to victory this weekend in Bemidji. This was the second meeting of the two teams this season: the Babes met the Dollz in Minneapolis for a double-header Sunday bout back in February. It was the first bout of the season for the Dollz and was the second bout of the day after taking a loss against the Ohio Roller Girls. The Babe City Rollers are a fast and agile team, relying heavily on scrum packs and jam-line strategies. The combination proved too much for the Dollz in February and they took a bitter loss against the Babes.
Given this first encounter, it was no surprise that the Babes were confident May 5th when they met the Dollz for the second time, and this time on their home turf in Bemidji, MN. And to make the odds even better for the Babes, the Dollz were skating with a short roster of only 11, including two rookies and veteran blocker Betsy Wrecksie just one week back from a PCL injury.
From the first whistle it was obvious that most of the action would be happening right at the jam line. Babe City’s defense is known for throwing up dominating walls, and started the game utilizing this strategy to snare the Dollz’ jammer right off the line consistently. Within the first ten minutes, the Babes had the lead and were achieving lead jammer in nearly every jam. Despite the early lead, the Dollz began to work more to break-up the Babes’ defensive wall, targeting their stronger blockers and hitting them hard. By the half, the Dolls were still trailing the Babes (SFRD 42, Babes 61), but it was obvious watching the Dollz’ slow come-back in the last ten minutes that the tide was about to change.
In the second half, the Dollz strategy focused hard on defense: even though the Dollz got lead jammer status more in the second half, they worked even harder to keep the Babes’ jammer in the pack longer, ensuring that she could not score points and was distracted just long enough for the Dollz to score one or two points herself. It was a strategy that helped the Dollz to chip away at the Babe’s lead and frustrate their jammers. After a 20-point power jam, the Dollz were able to take the lead in the last ten minutes of the bout.
By this time, the Babe’s endurance and composure was beginning to wear thin: penalties were catching up with the team as they were forced to skate short, an opportunity the Dollz exploited to gain further points in the remaining time. In the last nail-biting jam, the Babes were still down but were able to gain lead jammer status from the Dollz. But the Babe jammer was sent to the penalty box, giving the Dollz a power jam for the final 30 seconds of the game and assuring the Dollz victory with a final score of 128 to 99.