Jantastic Invitational 2016, Day 1

Saturday’s action from San Diego is complete. Here’s a full recap of the games played thusfar at the Jantastic Invitational. Be sure to follow @derbynotes on Twitter for updates and insight from today’s proceedings!

Game 1, AM Pool: Team Wolfpack 113, Team BiTraxual 52

The first game of Jantastic 2016 went pretty much according to plan, except for a few Wolfpack skaters who saw their games end a lot sooner than they would have liked.

After teams traded scores in the first two jams, Licker N’ Split came to the line for Wolfpack, scoring six points … and picking up three penalties. Molly Whoreman of BiTraxual got 10 points in the ensuing power jam, which got her team an early 13-11 lead.

That wound up being the last time BiTraxual would be on top. Three BiTrax jammer penalties in the first half gave Wolfpack 31 unanswered points through the period. Along the way, Licker N’ Split tried her luck jamming again, only to pick up yet another penalty to foul her out after only two jams and a scoring delta of -11 points.

At halftime, Wolfpack led 52-26. They would continue to pull away at a similar rate in the second half. Not to be outdone by Licker, Wolfpack’s Brazil Nut managed to pick up four penalties in Jam 18, also putting her out of the game. Despite this loss in Wolfpack blocking power, BiTraxual would only go on to pick up lead in regular jams two times in the period.

The lone bright spot was a fierce jammer battle between Applicious and Mota Matrix, with Appleicious finishing the initial pass behind the Wolfpack jammer only to bully her way out and past Mota to steal the lead and win the jam 9-4. But the talent in Wolfpack was overwhelming, with them taking the 113-52 win.

Game 2, AM Pool: My Little Ponies 217, Texas United 12

It was pretty clear from the get-go that the defending Jantastic champs were not going to be threatened, when Erin Jackson scored 35 points for My Little Ponies in her first three jams, two of which on the power jam. Crowe also lit up the scoreboard with multi-pass scores every time she took to the jammer line.

Texas, meanwhile, could barely muster a jammer chase, only getting their jammer out of the pack on the same scoring pass twice in the first half. It looked like they would be shut out at the break, but a Kwyet Rryot jammer penalty put Texas on the power jam. That allowed Mostly Harmless to finally break through and pick up 10 points, pumping her fist at crowd while doing it. That brought the halftime score to a much more respectable 107-10.

My Little Ponies continued to pour it on in the second, as Texas jammers could not stay out of the penalty box. It was getting so one-sided that MLP jammers were clearly shutting it down early, coasting through the waning seconds of a majority of jams to save it for another game. Texas didn’t give up, however, and managed to steal two points in a jam loss after a star pass through an MLP 4-wall to Rasta Fury. That’s all they had in them for this game, as the Ponies cruised to victory, 217-12.

Game 3, AM Pool: Team Wolfpack 200, Texas United 8

Texas stayed on the track for what was effectively a “halftime” between two consecutive 30-minute games. Though their opponent was different in this one, they couldn’t stop the Wolfpack from spinning the scoreboard at a similar rate. Texas got on the board a lot quicker this time, with 4 points via Milla Juke-a-Bitch. However, those came during a 8-4 jam loss that Texas could have won if they were quicker on the call off; instead, Mota Matrix came back around after a jammer race and stole the jam win.

On Jam 8, Texas tried another star pass, but it backfired badly; ‘Snot Rocket Science whizzed around the banked track for four full scoring passes and 20 points, spinning through the pack just as the jam ended. Wolfpack jammers would continue to drop big scores on Texas on both power jams and regular jams.

The halftime score was 114-4, with the rest of the game playing out much the same way. Texas got more points across two consecutive jams in the second, but those came as Wolfpack jammers effectively let them, extending jams out to 5-1 and 19-3 wins. It all added up to a 200-8 victory for team Wolfpack.

Game 4, AM Pool: My Little Ponies 100, Team BiTraxual 24

The games in the morning pool at Jantastic had been following a pattern, with the first half a game pretty much dictating how the second half would go. That was also the case here, with the Ponies leading 47-12 at halftime, then nearly matching that score in the second half by taking a 100-24 win to secure a spot in the semifinals.

It would be a while before BiTraxual would get on the scoreboard, but they were doing well to keep the MLP jammer rotation of Erin Jackson and Crowe to single passes and limiting the damage on two-passers. A tight jammer race in Jam 7 ended 0-0, but sent Crowe to the penalty box in the next jam. Appleicious capitalized for BiTraxual, though only for 5 points. Goodnight Doom would later score a 7-0 for BiTraxual against Crowe to close the first half.

The first jam of the second half appeared to have both jammers go to the penalty box – which would have resulted in a Double Jammer Down situation and two new jammers in the next jam – but a successful challenge to the BiTraxual penalty freed Deja Deja Vu from injustice and gave them a power jam. No points were picked up on the power jam, however. (But hey, they overturned a jammer penalty!)

BiTraxual would score minor points in three straight jams later in the second half, including a 4-4 washout between Gori Spelling and Erin Jackson, after Jackson got a bit too greedy in the pack and lost lead status to Gori. But there was little they could do to stop the My Little Pony jammer tag team of Jackson and Crowe, who scored 90% of the team’s points.

Game 5, AM Pool: Team BiTraxual 138, Texas United 32

As expected, Texas United put forth their best showing against a BiTraxual squad that was closer to their level. Unfortunately for them, a glut of penalties early in the game sunk their hopes for any realistic chance of leaving San Diego with a win.

A steady stream of jammer penalties, 2-blocker packs, and both at the same time led to BiTraxual scores of 10-0, 15-0, 2-0, 15-0, and 19-0 over 5 jams. A jammer penalty to Maiyagrain in that last jam stopped the BiTraxual run and allowed Texas and Milla Juke-a-Bitch to get some of it back on the following power jam with a 12-0. But that would be the last double-digit jam score Texas would see on the weekend.

Already down 89-14 at halftime, Texas didn’t have much left in the tank to stop the steady and consistent scoring that BiTraxual jammers were bringing on every jam. Other than a 19-0 run on the wings of two power jams, Texas was not able to get their jammer out of the pack first, putting their opponents in charge of the scoring, leading to a 138-32 victory.

Team BiTraxual finishes the weekend third in the morning pool with a 1-2 record; Texas United goes home losers on the track, but winners in life.

Game 6, AM Pool: My Little Ponies 91, Team Wolfpack 36

Though both teams were already through to Sunday’s semifinals, the clash between what some consider the two best teams playing in Jantastic was highly anticipated nonetheless. Plus, there was still the matter of who would win the pool and take an easier path to the final.

Right out of the gate, My Little Ponies took charge. Erin Jackson opened with a 10-0 jam win against V-Diva, who landed in the penalty box to give Crowe a power jam, 12 more points, and a quick 22-0 lead for MLP. The Wolfpack would quickly settle down, with nine straight jams of competitive one-pass scoring. If not for Wolfpack’s opening stumble, the game would have been neck-and-neck.

But then came an MLP power jam, and Erin Jackson did what she does on power jams, scoring 14. Though she picked up a penalty and allowed V-Diva to score 5 in response to close out the half, the hole the Wolfpack found themselves in was as deep as the 54-22 halftime score made it out to be.

The even exchanges continued into the second half, with neither team either to make a significant change in the score differential. The Wolfpack tried to mount a comeback off a 14-2 run over four jams, but those gains were snuffed out quickly when My Little Ponies took over in the final 8 jams with 29 unanswered points.

Those points, along with 54 total points across 11 jams by Erin Jackson, helped seal a 91-38 win for My Little Ponies and put them into a top seed for tomorrow’s action. Team Wolfpack will play the winner of the evening pool.

Game 7, PM Pool: RDCL All-Stars 93, The Rejects 49

The first game of the night session at Jantastic was about as close to a bloodbath as you will see in modern roller derby. In just 30 minutes of gameplay, the teams combined to get 78 penalties, nine foulouts, and several hard hits and falls that will leave both teams banged up for their remaining games. To put that penalty number in perspective, had this trend continued for the full 60 minutes, there would have been 152 penalties!

Thankfully, most of this carnage was transparent, since penalties in the RDCL are not whistled when they happen – players report to the penalty box between jams and serve for the full duration of the next jam – allowing the focus to remain on the game. It started relatively close through the first 5 jams, despite Team Rejects only scoring 5 points on a single power jam. Team RDCL could only manage 11 over the same period.

The banked track specialists took charge after that, working through their own penalty troubles to capitalize on their opponents’. The Rejects could not find their way through the pack first on the initial pass, leading to the All-Stars picking up regular jam wins left and right. Only Killo Kitty was able to break through for The Rejects in the 1st, scoring 4 points near the end of the period.

Coming back from halftime break down 46-9, The Rejects started playing better on offense, though their penalty situation didn’t improve. Killo Kitty would open with a 10 point power jam, and later Frightmare would get 15 in another solo run. The RDCL would respond with similar power jam scores from Ellie Mayhem. The second half was much more competitive, with the RDCL All-Stars winning it 47-40. But the damage was done at the start, with The Rejects unable to recover and falling to the RDCL 93-49.

Game 8, PM Pool: Southwest Smackdown 100, ATOMinables 60

In the RDCL, sometimes a jammer penalty will lead to the other jammer getting one herself. That was the case in this game, with several sequences of alternating power jams between the teams. The game started simply enough with Southwest leading 6-3 after three jams, but then four straight power jams of 9-0, 0-0, 15-0, and 5-0 saw the Smackdown come out better for them, leading 30-3 halfway through the 1st.

Three regular jams later, the flip-flopping jammer penalties returned. Three of them this time, but they canceled out on the scoreboard. The first period was more power jam than regular jam, Southwest saw the spoils of their first power jam tussle hold up with a 48-20 lead.

Things would settle down, sort of, in the second half. Though most of the scoring happened during regular two-jammer derby, there were two more rounds of alternating power jams. And in a genuinely impressive feat, Southwest’s Meep Meep somehow collected five penalties in a single 60-second jam. They all count as one trip to the box, though, which didn’t slow her team’s slow march up the scoreboard and ultimately to a 100-60 win.

Game 9, PM Pool: RDCL All-Stars 104, Southwest Smackdown 35

The home team got off to a fast start, shutting out Southwest 17-0 in the first 6 jams before a jammer penalty gave the Smackdown a chance to get on the board. Goody Goody Bloodrop was only able to take 5 points, however, which was a drop in the bucket compared to the 13-0 win Oblivienne Westwood would take in the next jam. Goody would go on to score the only other points for Southwest in the first half, also on a power jam, as the RDCL All-Stars streaked to a 47-8 halftime lead.

Sensing the need to take risks in the second half to have any chance at a comeback, Craven Cadavers plunged into the pack on a scoring pass with RDCL’s Hartlyn! right on her tail, hoping to scrape away a few points for the Smackdown. But without any offensive support up against the RDCL rear defense, she was cleared to the outside, allowing Hartlyn! to swoop into the lead position. That led to a 13-4 jam win, despite the RDCL jammer being second out of the pack intially.

Goody Goody Blooddrop would score a spectacular 15 points on a later power jam, but by that time the score gap was too great to overcome. With the 104-35 win, the RDCL All-Stars guarantee a place in Sunday’s semifinal game.

Game 10, PM Pool: The Rejects 49, ATOMinables 21
*Ended Early Due to Injury

The result of this game is less important than the event that ended it early, since it will have implications beyond the scope of this weekend.

The Rejects were enjoying a first half lead that got as big as 32 points, though Team Atom clawed back a few on a power jam toward the end of the period, going into halftime down 49-21. During the second jam of the second half, Demanda Riot of the The Rejects fell awkwardly into the infield of turn 4. After pounding the concrete a few times, she stayed down, and the jam was cut short due to injury.

And down she stayed, for almost 40 minutes.

Demanda Riot was finally stabilized and removed from the track to be taken to a local hospital with an injury to her right leg. We were right on top of it when it happened, and were able to see the aftermath; we can only say here that it appeared that the injury was severe enough to demand the time it took to get her off the track safely.

Afterwards, the captains of both teams and the officials mutually agreed to end the game. The 49-21 halftime score was declared as the final and official score, giving The Rejects the win. The Rejects were scheduled to immediately play in the next game against the Southwest Smackdown, but given the apparent severity of the injury to Demanda Riot and the state of the team, it was also agreed that their game would be postponed to first thing tomorrow morning. The winner of that game will qualify for the semifinals and face My Little Ponies.

Our thoughts are with Demanda Riot. We’ll try to pass along any updates on her condition as soon as we can.

Game 12, PM Pool: RDCL All-Stars 121, ATOMinables 46

The last game of the evening wasn’t for keeps, as the RDCL All-Stars had pretty much wrapped up the top seed of the pool. The ATOMinables were still looking for a win on the night, but they weren’t going to get it against the heavy-hitting All-Stars.

Jammers from both teams started riding the pine in the penalty box, with RDCL getting 3 power jams and Atom 4 power jams in the first half alone. The RDCL squad had faster jammers and better pack work, getting 43 points in their 3 PJs, against 25 points for Atom in their 4. Team ATOMinables could only score on the power jam, it seemed, while the RDCL could score just about every time it wasn’t in the penalty box. They took a 64-28 lead into halftime.

Power jams played less of a role in the second half, but the RDCL was getting in two scoring passes more times than not as if they were on the power jam anyway. Other than a 5 point power jam, Atom’s only other scoring in the second came on two jams with a lot of crazy jammer-on-jammer, lead-swapping action. In the penultimate jam, a jammer race saw Punk N. Da’Trunk and Shadow Breaker plunge into the pack at the same time, and after the lead switched between the teams three times, Shadow somehow came away empty-handed for RDCL, giving Punk a 3-0 jam win for ATOMinables.

Those would be the last points Atom would score on the weekend, as the RDCL All-Stars eliminated them from the competition with a 121-46 win. The RDCL’s finest earn a trip to the semis against Team Wolfpack.