Charm City conquers MNRG the slow way, 249-119

Charm City took an early lead in a no-lead jam as long-time veteran Joy Collision scored sixteen points for Charm against the opposing jammer, MNRG’s Suzie Smashbox.
Unlike the previous bout between Texas and Bay Area – filled with close play and rapid packs – this game was played on the chessboard as packs would screech to a halt and find ways to advance their positions by inches rather by yards.  Charm held their lead for ten minutes until Scarmen Hellectra grabbed the lead jam for a grand slam (five points) for the Minnesota girls. MNRG  31-27.
Amidst slow starts and slow slow packs, the MNRG kept their lead for three jams until a back block penalty sent Scarmen to the box as a jammer for the first of four power jams for Charm.  Baltimore’s veteran Just Carol grabbed twenty-four points as Minnesota’s pack spilled into the penalty box one after the other.
Charm City’s packs utilized their numbers advantage to the fullest over their next three power jams, scoring sixty-six point.  Just Carol’s own trip to the penalty box as jammer two jams before the end of the half netted Minnesota only ten points from Scarmen’s jamming…and a final trip to the penalty box by Suzie Smashbox for track-cutting bled a further thirteen points.  Minnesota was rapidly falling to its own nerves and sloppy play as the second half began.
With Charm up 109-58, the second half began with another power jam as Minnesota’s Suzie Smashbox took another track cut, giving Charm the opportunity to score another twenty. 129-58.
Minnesota seemed as if they had a chance still – a small chance, albeit, as Smashbox, L’exi-Cuter, and Juke Boxx took opportunities to score in the midst of a penalty cascade by Charm City, scoring 20 to Charm’s eight.  However, the door slammed shut as the Minnesota pack continued to fall prey to Charm City’s small hits to the outside…followed by backward runs that ensured Minnesota’s players re-entered the track just ahead of the person that knocked them out.
Time and again, Holly Go Hardly and Dolly Rocket took care of Minnesota jammers while the depleted Minnesota pack lack the stopping power to hold back Charm’s I. M. Pain and Just Carol.  As the clock ran out, Charm had opened a gap of 130 points – 249-119.  Minnesota’s run as WFTDA’s Big 5 Cinderella ran out here as their first attempt at playing serious slow-pack derby failed at the feet of Baltimore’s finest.
Charm City advances and will play Rocky Mountain at 11:15am in the quarter-finals.

(For archival purposes: original article first appeared on Uproar on the Lakeshore website.)