South Bend Studebreakers Earn Victory Over Socialites
May 11th, 2013
By Megan Enemies
Photos by Junior
In a long-anticipated rematch, Circle City Derby Girls’ Socialites traveled to South Bend, Ind., to take on the South Bend Roller Girls’ Studebreakers. Last year, CCDG edged by South Bend to win 120-101. This year, the WFTDA Apprentice league triumphed over Circle City, 205-174.
The game was the second of two that evening, with the first bout pitting CCDG’s Party Crashers against South Bend’s Bonnie Dooms. Penalties were a problem for both of Circle City’s teams. 
The Socialites spent a total of 39 minutes in the penalty box, to South Bend’s 22 minutes, which enabled the Studebreaker jammers to rack up a lot of uncontested points.
Collectively, the Studebreaker and Socialite jammers were evenly matched, with South Bend earning lead-jammer status in 26 jams, and Circle City earning lead in 25 jams. But when South Bend’s jammers went to the penalty box, Circle City was often unable to capitalize on that advantage.
New to the Socialites jammer pool in 2013, The Killer Purple had only one penalty in 12 jams, scoring a total of 47 points, with 30 of those points coming in a power jam minutes before the end of the game. Veteran jammer Vivi Section scored 73 points and wowed the crowd with a ballerina-like evasive maneuver around a tough South Bend blocker.
Wicked Baum-Chele won the Most Valuable Jammer award for the Socialites, despite being expelled in the second half. 
In a jam that caused chaos on the track and confusion in the crowd, Wicked Baum-Chele and Studebreaker jammer Hoytie Toity both went to the penalty box twice in one jam. Wicked Baum-Chele went first, and Hoytie Toity was sent to the box right afterward, so both jammers sat for only a matter of seconds before returning to the track. Then both jammers committed a second penalty and raced to the penalty box, where Wicked Baum-Chele got tangled up in a folding chair that slid backward and hit the penalty box manager. According to rule 6.17.10, this is grounds for immediate expulsion, even when it is unintentional.
The always-tenacious Nova Blaze earned the Most Valuable Blocker award for the Socialites, demonstrating outstanding awareness and positional blocking in her 27 jams on the track. And the Socialites demonstrated their knack for controlling pack speed, artfully slowing the pack—and often—getting South Bend’s blockers to follow them backward on the track.
If not for the number of penalties, Circle City might have been able to bring home a win against South Bend. The Socialites, now 3-1 this season, will be fighting for a win at home June 15, when they take on the Twin City Derby Girls from Champaign/Urbana, Ill.
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