On Saturday, April 26th, 2008 at the Overlook Activities Center in Lancaster, PA, the Dutchland Rollers held the second game of their 2008 season, The Throwdown Showdown. With their Travel Team, the Dutchland All-Stars, earning a solid victory in the season opener last month over Montreal Roller Derby (149-56), the home teams were itching to play. The night's action pitted the 2007 League Champs, The Distel Finks, against the Barn Razors. These two teams met last April at RUMSPRINGA with the Razors beating out the Finks in a close game of 87-81. Over the past year both teams have experienced their share of growing pains and were ready to prove their strength and set the tone for the season.


The Finks skated out first with rookies, Jolene Jawbreaker and Derby Does Dallas. Marie Antoithreat and Perkalicious had skated as Finks in the 2007 championship game, but were not yet on the roster for RUMSPRINGA last year. Fink veterans, Laverne N. Surly, Mary That Motha OH GOD!, Twisted Scizzors, took to the floor with team captain, Rachel Slur, and co-captain, Spawna Skatin'.


The Razors came in, showcasing their new players, Cherry Crush, Spinal Snap, O'Chit, and Hester Pinned. Returning Razors included Haulin Ash, Bunny McBones, Lucy Van Belt, and Josie Cuervo as well as team captain, Torque Wench, and co-captain, Hillbilly Hellcat. Tonight was bittersweet for the Razors, as this would be Torque's final turn around the track, retiring after 2 years.


The first whistle blew and Razor, Lucy Van Belt put up 3 points, shutting out Twisted Scizzors, with some strong defense from her pack. The Finks put up 6 points with Spawna Skatin' in jam 2, but Razor, Hester Pinned, answered with 8 of her own. Torque Wench stepped to the line in jam 3 winning over Rachel Slur 3-1. Van Belt dished out 7 more Razor points in jam 4, while Scizzors obtained 3 before being sent to the box for her 4th minor. Hester Pinned put another 5 points on the board as Scizzors found no way into the pack after coming out of the box. Van Belt closed jam 6 scoring 3-0 over Spawna. At this point, the Razors held a nice lead of 29-10. Scizzors came into jam 7 swinging, scoring 8 points shutting out Hester Pinned. Jam 8 saw Spawna hold 5-4 over Torque Wench. In Jam 9, Van Belt was sent to the box leaving Rachel Slur to jam unopposed. Slur was able to score 3 points before she too was sent to the box. As both jammers were in the box, the pivots from the previous jam were left to step up in the jamming position for jam 10. Hillbilly Hellcat stepped in for the Razors, and in a split second moment of confusion, the Finks jammer was waved off the track. The whistle blew and the pack took off, leaving Hillbilly unopposed to collect 4 more points for her team. The Razors kept the momentum going with Hester Pinned picking up 9 unanswered points followed by 12 of her own fromVan Belt. Spawna Skatin and Rachel Slur both put up one point for the Finks in jams 13 and 14 while Twisted Scizzors and Torque Wench barely made it to the pack before the 1st period was buzzed to an end. The score was 63-28 in favor of the Razors.


One would love to be a fly on the wall in the locker room during the Finks half-time discussion. Whatever it was they decided, it worked! The Finks came back into the game for period two with guns blazing, ready to turn it around. Slur and Hester both accrued 4 points in the first jam, with Spawna earning an unanswered 2 points in the second. Torque Wench put 3 points over Twisted Scizzors (in the penalty box) during the third jam and this would prove to be the last time the Razors outscored the Finks. Jam 4 began the turning of the tides as the Finks quickly and deliberately took back control of the game. Scizzors came storming in and scored 5 points over Hester's 3. Spawna and Van Belt would tie in Jam 5 at 2-2. Scizzors shut out Hester with 3 points, followed by Spawna shutting out Torque with 4 of her own. In jam 8, Rachel Slur put up an impressive 10 point jam while Hester sat in the box. Hester was released in jam 9, but was only able to get two points to Scizzors' 7. Spawna shut out Van Belt again 5-0 in jam 10. Scizzors and O'Chit went head to head in jam 11, both unable to score before they landed in the box. Once again, each team's pivot would need to take the jammer position. Hillbilly Hellcat and Fink, Perkalicious, lined up for the jam. Hillbilly was quickly dismissed to the box, leaving 3 Razors to defend themselves against the Finks and no way to score. The Razors were able to hold Perkalicious to zero points but were undoubtedly exhausted following the 2 minute long jam. Spawna put up a beautiful 7 points to Hester's 5 in jam 13, followed by Scizzors's 6-0 over Van Belt who ended up in the box. For the first time during the game, the Finks were in the lead, 83-82 and had no intention of letting up. In jam 15, Van Belt exited the box, but was only able to score 1 point to Spawna's 3. Slur had a 4-2 jam over Hester, followed by Van Belt strategically calling the next one at 39 seconds to prevent Scizzors from scoring in jam 17. The final jam of the night would begin as 90-85 in the Fink's favor. Hester put up the 5 points her team needed to tie it up, however, Spawna had put up 5 of her own. Following the full length jam, the buzzer signaled the end of the game. The crowd sat silent as the final points were tallied and the Finks would prove the winner's at 95-90!!!


Hester Pinned led the scoring for the night, scoring 48 points in 13 jams. Lucy Van Belt had the highest per jam score of 12 for the night. Rachel Slur scored 23 points in 6 jams, with an impressive +14 point differential! The Finks ended the night with 70 minors and the Razors had 63. No majors were assigned during the bout. The Finks were able to secure lead jammer for 10 of the game's 33 jams, while the Razors got lead for 7 jams. Torque Wench, in her final game, was awarded the Dutchland Derby Boys' Game MVP T-shirt for her efforts.


Come check out the Finks as they take on the Hex Offenders on May 31st at home! Also, check out your Rollers on May 18th in Delaware as they participate in a mixer bout for charity with the Wilmington City Ruff Rollers!!!