This weekend, the Furies caravanned westward to Grand Rapids, Michigan for their first bout of the season to play the Grand Raggidy All Stars. In a tough bout where the Furies started out strong and stayed within striking distance until the very end, Grand Raggidy won 161-123.
The first period saw strong strategic and cohesive play from the Furies which seemed to unnerve the higher ranked Grand Raggidy team. “We worked together as a team and used the strategies that we had been practicing over the past several months and paid it off,” said Vajenna Warrior, assistant captain. In the 2nd period, the Furies had more frequent penalties and Grand Raggidy was able to maintain a lead throughout the rest of the game.
Though technically a loss, the Furies count this bout as a win since they lost by a smaller margin than was forecasted, and hope that this will help the team reach its goal to compete in the Eastern Regionals in September.
In the final quarter rankings for 2011 issued by the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), Grand Raggidy came in 11th in the North Central Region. The Furies were ranked 15th in the East Region. The top ten teams of each region compete at the Regionals with the top three winners of each region going on to Nationals.
Now, the Furies look eastward where they will continue their quest by travelling to Portland, Maine to take on the 10th ranked Maine Roller Derby on February 11th.
On the home front, the Alley Kats and the Suicidal Saucies opened their season with a close bout. The Kats obtained the win by edging out the Saucies with the final score being 141-135.
The Saucies took an early lead but once the Kats gained momentum and surpassed the Saucies, they kept that lead for the entire game. By half time, the Kats had a 25 point lead, but the Saucies didn’t give up and with the help of their main jammer B’Kini Wacks, they chipped away to bring the deficit to one point with 2:26 minutes left on the clock.
The exciting final jam saw both jammers heading to the Mighty Taco Sin Bin but once Evil-Lyn Cognito, the Kats jammer, was released she was able to score enough points to secure the win for her team.
The bout was filled with incredibly strategic plays from both teams including knee starts, fast ladders, and tight pack work. There was a balance of physical play, strategy and intense audience participation.