The Ohio Roller Girls closed out their regular season with a tough pair of victories over the Steel City (Pittsburgh) Roller Girls on Saturday August 30. This was easily one of the more physical bouts of the season. Both the All-Star charter team and Gang Green landed another point in the win column, with the All Stars advancing with a buy in the first round of the playoffs. The Eastern playoffs are a 16 team double elimination tournament to be held in Evansville, Indiana from September 19 through 21.

OHRG All Stars vs Steel Hurtin'

The charter team matchup between Columbus and Pittsburgh began without a whisper of points for our hometown heroines as Steel Hurtin's defense held the All Stars scoreless for first six jams. Ena Flash, a player not often seen in the jammer position finally got Ohio on the scoreboard for three points in the seventh. Ohio chipped away at Pittsburgh's lead for another two jams and until the Smacktivist took advantage of a power jam to land three grand slams and pull the All Stars ahead 28 to 24 at the end of the tenth.

Play continued to be defensive and the score within six points until a very rough and physical fourteenth jam. Thats when Ohio jammer Tactigal rode two back to back power jams for four grand slams and a total 24 points giving the All Stars a solid 64 to 38 lead.

The final five jams saw Steel Hurtin claw away at Ohio's lead while the All Stars pulled out a little finesse. Two successful star passes were made, one from Electra Magneto to Outta MyWayman in seventeenth and one from Kitty Liquor Bottom to Electra in the nineteenth during a power jam. Each resulted in a grand slam and the half closed with the score 98 to 85 in Ohio's favor.

The second half began as trench warfare with both teams making only single digit point pickups in the first four jams. In the fifth jam, Smacktivist broke through the lines during a power jam and got herself a quintuple grand slam exploit. Steel Hurtin responded with a dual power jam quintuple grand slam of their own in eighth bring the score to 146 – 136. Pittsburgh followed that up with nine more points in the ninth scored by 'Snot Rocket Science.

During the next four jams, defense reigned supreme as both teams scored only two total points between them. Then Smacktivist broke through again, gaining her second quintuple grand slam jam of the night. Ohio took the jammer rotation up a notch with Laura OuttaMyWayman and Burnadeath joining Smacktivist in extending the lead and bringing the final score to 212 to 191.

The bout was very defense oriented and physical. Coach Inspector Muffin told me afterwords that he went into this bout worried because of Pittsburgh's recent strong showing against St Louis.

Gang Green versus The Steel Beamers

The B-team matchup between Gang Green and the Steel Beamers looked began as another defensive slugfest. Pittsburgh held Ohio scoreless in the first two jams and the action on the track was neck, with the lead changing hands three times in four jams.

In the eleventh jam the Gang Green ironed out what needed to be done. Sara Bruce took control during a power jam and raced the green machine ahead by four grand slams bring the score to 44 – 17. Cloverkill followed her in the twelfth with eight more points. After that Ohio continued to dominate the track, allowing Pittsburgh's jammer to lead only twice in twelve jams and power killing their one power jam in the final seconds of the half. Gang Green had neatly double the Steel Beamers score at half 78 to 39.

During the second half Ohio maintained this track control used it defensively. Rather than score excessively themselves, Gang Green used their near monopoly on the leader jammer position to hold Pittsburgh's score down effectively, calling the jam instantly after they had scored a few points and Pittsburgh had scored none in six out of a blistering 24 jams.

Ohio maintained and extended their lead throughout the half in fast pack rather than slow pack action. This endurance seemed pay off. Cloverkill was able to pick up seven grand slams and Gang Green rested on Fiddler's Green after a 174 to 127 victory.

Playoffs

Although regular season play has ended for charter teams worldwide, these two may yet meet again as both are in the playoff tournament in Evansville, Indiana in September. Should Ohio beat both Jacksonville and then London while Pittsburgh in turn defeats Arizona then Texas then the winner of the Chicago – Toronto matchup they would face each other in the Championship round.