The strain of putting a home bout together caused the Durango Roller Girls Derailers to come out a little flat.
The energy from playing in front of family and friends pushed them to a 207-140 victory over the Pueblo Jailhouse Jawbreakers on Saturday at Chapman Hill.
Having to organize security, set up the rink and complete other preparations pulled the Derailers’ focus away from the track momentarily.
“There’s a lot of setup involved, and sometimes it takes them a bit to get their heads in the game,” Derailers’ head coach Devin Hencmann said.
Pueblo led 19-9 after the first 10 jams, taking the lead jammer spot in six of them.
“The first 10 minutes were really trying to figure out how the other team was playing and figure out our strategy,” said Shaheen Hood, aka Shotgun Shaheen, who works at Mercury Payment Systems for her day job.
Kalisha Crossland kept the DRG close while the team was finding its wheels.
She grabbed the lead jammer position in her first five turns as jammer, cutting Durango’s deficit to 19-18 on her fourth turn and giving the Derailers a 28-25 lead on her fifth.
“She’s a really clean player,” Hood said. “That’s important for jammers.”
Crossland and the other Derailers’ jammers stayed out of the penalty box in large part, while Pueblo’s jammers had to sit out a half dozen times. That allowed Durango’s jammers to score with impunity and build an 89-37 halftime lead.
The Derailers stretched that out to 152-71 in the second half before eventually prevailing by 67.
The margin of victory was an ode to Abby Smith, aka Machete Abby, who suffered a heart attack during a practice in late May and received cardiopulmonary resuscitation from some of her teammates.
Smith left the hospital Saturday and was resting at home during the match.
“I think that was an emotional start,” Crossland said of the pre-bout tribute to Smith. “I think us kicking their butts was for her.”
It wasn’t a walkover against scrubs, though.
Pueblo is a Women’s Flat Track Derby Association certified program, a fete the DRG is trying to achieve. They expect to hear officially one way or another soon but aren’t sure yet.
“That was a good match for us,” Crossland said. “They did not let us have it.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
