Four capable jammers led the way for the Durango Roller Girls Derailers against the El Paso Tex Pistols on Saturday at Chapman Hill.
Eicherumba, Jammy Dodger, Jesstroyer and Kill Eatcha all found open spaces on the rink in leading the Derailers to a 316-69 victory.
The DRG led 29-of-44 jams and jumped out to a 94-25 lead after 12 jams.
“It was great to be able to share that responsibility because jamming is a little bit stressful,” said Amy Heber, aka Jammy Dodger.
That’s in sharp contrast to the Derailers’ first home bout, when Kill Eatcha carried much of the scoring load.
The DRG and their head coach Dave Hencmann reviewed the tape from their 207-140 win over the Pueblo Jailhouse Jawbreakers on June 21 and identified some areas to improve.
Chief among those were covering the inside line and being more active in blocking.
The strategy worked to perfection, giving the Derailers a 142-44 lead at halftime that ballooned out over the course of the last 30 minutes.
“I think our blockers make us extremely effective. We’ve been skating with them so long that they know how each of us jam individually,” said Angela Eicher, aka Eicherumba. “Without them we’re just skating around the track.”
All four Derailers’ jammers extend their jams longer than in their first home bout.
They had the lead jammer position so often and kept El Paso’s jammer boxed in so well that the Derailers were able to score more than 20 points in a jam three times.
The first two of those came in the eighth and ninth jams, which extended a slim 22-15 lead to a dominant 72-25 advantage.
“The clock starts to become your friend,” Hencmann said. “We were getting the lead jammer a lot, so that allowed us to let it run and score points.”
The DRG also got a boost from the return of Abby Smith, aka Machete Abby, to the track, if only in a cheering capacity.
Smith collapsed at a training session in late May and needed to go to the hospital.
It was her first time back at Chapman Hill since then.
“It’s kind of weird, but it’s nice considering the alternative,” Smith said. “I would do anything to be back out there.”
Her presence helped fire her teammates up, though.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen her since she got out of the hospital,” Eicher said. “It brought back some memories and a lot of emotion.
“I think it made us play that much harder knowing she’d be here watching.”
The DRG will host a scrimmage and fundraiser for Smith on July 12 at Chapman Hill and return to competition July 19 in Ogden, Utah against the Junction City Trainwrecks.
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
