The Cosmic Killas and the Shotgun Shirleys met at Castle Sports Club on Saturday night in hopes of dispelling their “loser” title.
Both teams had yet to claim a win in the 2012-13 season of the Desert Dolls Roller Derby. The previous season champions, the Cosmic Killas, rolled away with a decisive 140-77 victory over the Shotgun Shirleys.
Midway through the first half, the point spread was in the single digits, but the Killas skated their way to a 32 point halftime lead that they would not give up.
What started off as a clean, close bout quickly heated up as tension rose and elbows flew between Killas’s dangerous jammer Dagger Dallas and the Shirleys’s speedster Dropkick Maddie. Nobody expected these two to duke it out in the second half by the way they were interacting in the first.
Dagger Dallas and Dropkick Maddie went head to head as jammers for the first jam of the night and were called out for hugging moments before the competition began. As they continuously met on the jammer line, hugging turned into tussling.
The two ladies exchanged one too many glares and the competition became real. The girls fell to the floor fighting with only three minutes left in the bout and they each spent the remainder of the bout in the penalty box.
The brawlers weren’t the only ones who saw the inside of the penalty box, as power jams became a theme for the evening. The Shirleys spent an ample amount of time in the box. The Shirleys’ Jenevil Knievel said that the abundance of penalties can definitely have an effect on the team’s performance.
Dagger Dallas was awarded the title as MVP for her impressive jamming and Rosey Rough Rider was one of the best blockers on her team not for for the hits she made, but for her sound position on the flat track.
Sometimes bouts can get overly aggressive and some derby injuries can occur. Shirley’s Slaughter Pop took a hit late in the second half that removed her from the remainder of the game.
The fans were loud, the costumes were flashy, and the hits were hard. The right to call themselves a “winner” wasn’t the only thing settled Saturday night. As the announcer said to everyone, there is no hugging in derby.
