The South Grand Slammers defeated the RiverFront Crimes by a score of 135 - 105 and WTF blows out OMG by a score of 136 - 38.

It was a scorcher outside Saturday night, but the action was even hotter inside the Midwest Sports Hockey Complex at Queeny Park. Doc’s Harley-Davidson was on-site with their ride simulator and much like the motorcycles, the action on the track was loud and fast.

The evening started off with a 30 minute expo bout featuring ladies of the St. Louis Roller Derby scene as team OMG took on team WTF in a crazy battle of iron-woman derby. Due to some injuries earlier in the week the rosters for this bout were severely hampered and it ended up being five players for team OMG versus six player for team WTF. With the shortened rosters it was decided that the bout would be played with only three blockers per team each jam. To say this change favored the jammers would be a bit of an understatement, especially for Black Market Baby who used the extra room on the track to shred the OMG defense whenever she donned the star. The combination of current Arch Rival All-Star Black Market Baby and retired Smashinista Jezebelle was just too much for team OMG to handle and team WTF cruised to a 136 - 38 victory.

The main event of the evening was a continuation of the 2012 Turf Wars season as the RiverFront Crimes took on the South Grand Slammers. A win for the Slammers on Saturday night would all but secure them a spot in the Championship bout, but the Crimes still controlled their own destiny as a win on Saturday coupled with an upset win over the Rockets in the last bout of the season would give them a chance to sneak into the Championship bout.

The bout began with a jam in which no points were scored due to Bat Wing getting out of the pack right behind The Saint who was then forced to call off the jam quickly. Debaucherous Prime then scored nine points on the following jam as the Crimes pack work stifled Jagged Little Will. On the third jam the Crimes made the first mistake as Screech Around was sent off for a major track cut giving Handrail and the Slammers the first power jam of the bout. Handrail scored a grand slam, but then picked up a major track cut of his own that sent him to the box as the jam came to a close. The Saint took full advantage scoring nine points before Handrail got back into play, but Handrail picked up another major track cut almost immediately sending him back to the box and allowing The Saint to put another nine on the board before calling off the jam. Debaucherous Prime started the next jam alone on the jammer line as Handrail still sat in the box and Prime wasted no time racing through the pack and racking up another nine points before Handrail could get out of the box and get to a scoring pass. Just like that the Crimes jumped out to an early lead of 36 - 5 just ten minutes into the bout. Then Bat Wing took the jammer line facing off against Screech Around and things got very interesting. Screech Around picked up a major track cut on the initial pass and then Bat Wing went to work racking up a twenty-nine point power jam to narrowing the lead to only two points with the score now 36 - 34. The Crimes called a timeout to recover and hopefully squash the momentum that the Slammers looked to continue, but it was not to be as the Slammers went on a 35 - 13 run over the next seven jams to take a 69 - 44 lead. It was towards the end of this run that Walker Hamilton would have to leave the game for the Crimes when he dislocated his left shoulder. This is the same shoulder that kept him out of the opening bout of the season and he is likely done for the remainder of the season. During the final seven minutes of the first half, the Crimes would creep back into striking distance largely in part due to The Saint’s ten point power jam in the final jam of the half that brought the score to 85 - 75 in favor of the Slammers.

The first two jams of the second half saw each squad take turns grabbing three points and calling off jams and then the Slammers slowly started pulling away. The fifth jam of the second half saw Fruit Wall-Up make his Slammers debut and while Screech Around was able to secure lead jammer he was late in trying to call off the jam while stuck in traffic and Jagged Little Will grabbed four points to his two making Slammers lead twenty-nine points with a score of 110 - 81. The next four jams saw no points scored and on that fourth jam, Holden U’Backs of the Crimes went down with an ankle injury and would not return to the play the rest of the evening. The rest of the bout saw the Crimes trying to chip away at the lead of the Slammers, but every time they would get some points, the Slammers would counter on the following jam with points of their own. As time wound down, the Slammers were able to keep their sizable lead and the final score was 143 - 115.

Scoring (Unofficial):

Slammers: Bat Wing - 79; Jagged Little Will - 39; Handrail - 25

Crimes: Debaucherous Prime - 52; The Saint - 41; Oodles of Brutal - 14; Screech Around - 7

This Saturday, June 23rd, you can come out to Doc’s Harley-Davidson for the “Doc’s Rocks” event. Many of the St. Louis GateKeepers (including myself) will be in attendance and we will even be putting on a demo bout! The event lasts from 9am to 5pm and festivities will include a Pin-Up Pageant contest, live music and food and drink will be available for purchase. The GateKeepers will be skating between 11:00am and 3:00pm so come on down and check out Doc’s state-of-art facilities and have some fun!

On June 30th, the GateKeepers Travel Team is back in action as they take on fifth-ranked Dallas Deception. The opening bout of this event features the B-Keepers taking on the Chicago Bruise Brothers. Tickets are on sale now at Brown Paper Tickets!

Don’t forget that the 2012 Men’s Roller Derby Association Championships will take place right here in St. Louis on October 20th and 21st. Gateway to the Best will feature the top eight teams in the MRDA battling it out at the Midwest Sports Hockey Complex with the last team standing being crowned 2012 MRDA Champions! Tickets can be purchased at a discounted rate right now at Brown Paper Tickets! But you better act fast as the price will increase as we get closer to the event!

See you at the bouts!

Star-Spangled Hammer

Star-Spangled Hammer and Magilla Guerilla are the announcers for the St. Louis GateKeepers!