| By Veronica La Rosa (Killer Vee) The secondary travel teams for the Santa Cruz Derby Girls and the Silicon Valley Roller Girls met for the first time last night. By the final whistle, the Silicon Valley Killabytes had won the game over the Santa Cruz Harbor Hellcats with a score of 122 - 108. Despite last minute roster changes that saw Aim DeKill and Juicy K Tore of Silicon Valley being replaced by Smack Dahlia and Feisty Irish, these two teams were obviously evenly-matched from the start as the game was often tied or less than 10 points apart at all times. One thing both teams could agree on though was that the Santa Cruz Derby Groms halftime bout was an emotional and enthralling experience. The girls, ranging from ages 8 - 17, pulled off a nail biter of their own as the Sugar skulls squeaked out a win against the Bumper Scars by just a handful of points. Women who play derby today feel a strong emotional pull when they see young girls playing the sport that their older counterparts created and developed. Hopefully the trend of junior leagues takes off everywhere. These girl skaters are the future of roller derby. Imagine getting your start when you were eight years old and playing roller derby your whole life. The possibilities for these girls are unimaginable. Now for the big girls game! First Half In the first jam of the night, Silicon Valley looked strong as Zootown Throwdown was able to score nine unanswered points at her own leisure before Liv N LetDie could score. 9 - 0 SVRG. By Jam 3, Silicon Valley had widened the gap after Postal Servix also scored a nine point jam. 23 - 4 SVRG. In Jams 5 and 6, Santa Cruz stepped up their game and managed to tie the score 24 - 24 after two grand slams by Cleopatra Catastrophe on the heels of an eight point jam by Liv n LetDie. Cyntax was the Silicon Valley jammer for both jams but she was serving penalty time that crossed over for each jam. The tie game was short lived as Silicon Valley took back the lead in jams 7 and 8 as Skooter Ov'r picked up an 8 - 4 jam and Zootown Throwdown scored a 4 - 0 jam for Silicon Valley. 36 - 28 SVRG. In Jam 9, another tie! Cleopatra Catastrophe scored eight points as Cyntax of Silicon Valley was sent to the penalty box. 36 -36. In Jam 15, Liv N Letdie decides to intentionally earn her fourth minor penalty so that she may sit out her penalty as a blocker and rejoin the jammer line for the next shift with a clean slate. However, it was a seemingly poor decision as Santa Cruz already had a blocker in the box and Silicon Valley had their best jammer, Zootown Throwdown, on the line. Zootown scored three unanswered points and the score is 53 - 47 SVRG. After the ninth jam, the score is never more than a few points apart although Silicon Valley steadily holds the lead. By Jam 16, Silicon Valley managed to nickel and dime the Santa Cruz girls for a few jams and opens up their lead 56 -47, their biggest lead since their first five jams of the game. At the start of the final jam of the half, the score was 56 - 51 SVRG. But Santa Cruz took the lead for the first time that night with a 61 - 59 score at the end of the half. This last jam turned out to be controversial as Santa Cruz jammer Pippi Hardsocking earned ten points by having two grand slams. For some odd reason, jam ref Texas T-Bag awarded Silicon Valley jammer Cyntax three points although she never completed her initial pass which is evident by the fact that Pippi Hardsocking lapped her twice on her two grand slams. Second Half In the first jam of the second half, Silicon Valley jammer Zootown Throwdown attempted to call of the jam for at least a half a lap. Jam ref Bronco was busy recording a penalty for a pack player so each team was able to earn four points although Zootown was trying to get the call before Santa Cruz jammer Liv N Letdie could score. To prove how close these two teams are, in the first five shifts of the second half, the score is tied three separate times. 66 - 66 in the second jam, 70 - 70 in the third jam, and 76 - 76 in the fifth jam. Since Santa Cruz had lead jammer status in the last three jams of those five, the score may have gone in their favor if the Santa Cruz jammers had insisted on calling the jams earlier and taking two or three points instead of trying to get four and letting their opposing jammer score as they attempted that elusive and tricky fourth point. With the game tied 76 -76 after the fifth jam, Silicon Valley would take control of the game holding Santa Cruz scoreless until the 11th jam as Silicon Valley piled on 23 points in that period. At the start of Jam 9, Zootown Throwdown decided to play jammer on jammer defense on Cleopatra Catastrophe at the whistle as she only had two blockers in the pack opposed to Santa Cruz's four blockers. The strategy worked as Zootown eventually earned lead jammer status however she was also sent to the penalty box after scoring nine points. 92 - 76 SVRG. In Jam 10, point were missing again as Kiki Clash managed to pass one out of play Silicon Valley blocker before the jam was called. At the time, there was also a Silicon Valley blocker in the box so Kiki should have been awarded two points but was given zero by jam ref Texas T-Bag. 99 - 76 SVRG. Starting in Jam 11 and going to Jam 13, Santa Cruz attempted to mount their comeback as they were able to score 14 points while only allowing Silicon Valley to score 4 points. 103 - 90 SVRG. In Jam 14, Silicon Valley blocker Skooter Ov'r was ejected from the game after serving too many penalties. Although being ejected for penalties is a *bad* thing, her team and coaches on the bench loudly cheered for her as she took her final lap. 107 - 90 SVRG. In the 16th jam, Zootown Throwdown was sent to the penalty box on a cutting major and Santa Cruz jammer Liv N Letdie was able to pick up a much needed 9 - 0 jam. 122 - 99 SVRG. In the 17th and final jam of the night, Pippi Hardsocking scored nine points for Santa Cruz. Although Silicon Valley jammer Postal Servix was able to break out of the pack at the same time as Pippi, incredibly Postal Servix wasn't able to score any points. She was stuck on her first scoring pass for the entire jam and was repeatedly taken down over and over by the Santa Cruz blockers. The final score for the night was the Silicon Valley Killabytes 122 to the Santa Cruz Harbor Hellcats 108. Final Zootown Throwdown of Silicon Valley jammed an amazing 15 times out of 36 possible jams. She scored 55 points. She was able to capture lead jammer eight times and served three minutes in the penalty box for majors. Cyntax jammed ten times and earned 29 points. Cyntax ran into a bit of trouble jamming as she only picked up two lead jammer calls and was also sent to the penalty box twice. Postal Servix jammed nine times and picked up 27 points. She proved herself to be a clean and effective jammer as she earned lead jammer status seven times out of nine and was never waved to the penalty box. Skooter Ov'r and Feisty Irish each jammed one time with Skooter picking up eight points and Feisty earning three points. Neither girl was awarded lead jammer status on their attempt. For Santa Cruz, their jamming stats were pretty even. Liv N LetDie and Pippi Hardsocking both jammed ten times. Liv earned 38 points while Pippi picked up 35. Liv received lead jammer status only four times but served no time as a jammer in the penalty box but Pippi earned seven lead jammer calls but was waved to the box two times. Cleopatra Catastrophe jammed nine times and picked up 23 points and four lead jammer calls. Kiki Clash jammed seven times and earned 12 points although she only got two lead jammer calls. While it seems at times that the jammers get all the glamor, there were some standout blockers that should be mentioned. Both The Beast of Silicon Valley and Pigeon from Santa Cruz had repeated monster hits on their opposing jammers. Roxy Scarmichael of the Santa Cruz was an effective and determined pivot. And veteran player Steffen Razor was able to re-engage repeatedly for the Killaybytes. While these teams appear even in skill, it's apparent that the expert coaching from Silicon Valley coaches Pandamonium and L.T.O. helped them win the game. Silicon Valley seemed more aware of what to do in certain situations while Santa Cruz looked a little lost. As the sport continues to grown, it is becoming obvious that smart, controller roller derby is winning roller derby. Silicon Valley's next game will be at their home rink of San Jose Skate when their primary team the Dot.Kamikazes take on the OC Roller Girls on September 26th. Santa Cruz will be hosting Tucson Roller Derby on September 12th at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium.
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Santa Cruz Derby Girls - THE Rollergirls of Santa Cruz
