10 Things If You Missed Battle of the All Stars 2019

Big Sky Country Pulls Off the Big Upsets, New York 3 Peats and Pennsylvania Keeps Their Medal Streak Alive

The Apex
The Apex

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Maven Takes the Outside. Photo: Tina Letter

Battle of the All Stars kicked off the 2019 roller derby season last weekend in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, with 4 days of competitive games, all available to stream via a NERDerby broadcast. As always, the tournament provided lots of early season insight, alongside some serious skill and thrilling games. If you missed any of the games, they are all up in an archive. Below is our brief recap of what stood out for us.

MONTANA!

Team Montana came into this BOTAS relatively unknown. It was their first tournament appearance, and the state has just two ranked WFTDA teams in Gallatin (161st) and Magic City (297th), with Magic City just getting ranked for the first time in the last release.

They used their under the radar status to their advantage, making quick work of BOTAS veterans Team Ohio 122–75 on Thursday morning before pulling off one of the biggest BOTAS upsets of all time Thursday night against Virginia All Stars 142–94.

The Cinderella run timed out against Team Colorado on Friday, but Team Montana kept this energy throughout the weekend, dropping a tight result against Team California before beating Tennessee on Sunday 148–145 in a thriller to leave in 7th place. They entered in 14th.

Top to bottom they played as a team and showed great cohesion and training baselines, but jammer Foggy stood out as a leader for them this weekend. No surprise to me that she was the one on the jam line to pull of the come back on Sunday.

Watching the Montana fans lose it online all weekend was also a tournament highlight. What an amazing run!

Start Spreading the News…… 🗽🗽🗽

Team New York All Stars pulled off the 3 peat, tying Team Pennsylvania for most all time BOTAS Championships, by dominating games against Team Massachusetts, Texas and Colorado from start to finish.

Their jammer rotation was absurdly deep and they controlled games by focusing on point protection and clean play from their jammers. Not having any practice time together, the team actually got better throughout the weekend.

No team has won this tournament 4 years in a row, so it will be interesting to see what challengers BOTAS 2020 will bring.

Pennsylvania’s Medal Streak Survives

Team PA All Stars were not about to let their medal streak die, especially not during #20JawnTeen! Their tight 154–148 loss to Colorado on Saturday was the first time a team other than Team NY has beaten them at this tournament, but they rebounded well with a dominant win 182–85 over Texas to take Bronze. 6 years, 6 straight medals (3 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze).

Tournament co-creator V-Diva almost led the come back on Saturday night in the most thrilling bout of the weekend, and Team PA’s approach to their state program in try outs and practices really shines through as a positive. This is an extremely tough team to beat.

Team Saskatchewan Found A Way

Getting their team to Hatfield proved difficult for Team Saskatchewan, with 8 skaters and a Coach watching their Thursday morning game against Team Louisiana waiting for a flight out from Toronto. They had to borrow skaters from hosts BuxMont in that first game just to make sure it happened.

The team managed to all get to BOTAS by Friday afternoon though for their bout against tournament veterans Team Maryland and the road weary team managed to pull out their first ever BOTAS win topping Maryland 119–115.

The first and only Canadian Province to send a team, Saskatchewan can claim the first ever Canadian win — with teams like Team Alberta hoping to get into the tournament in the future. The win saw the #16 seed leave in 12th and I’d expect more wins from this Team Saskatchewan club if they keep sending teams.

The Volunteers 🙌 🙌 🙌

BOTAS is a massive under taking and this year fans got an AMAZING four day stream by NERDerby over on Twitch (please don’t retire!), great photos from photographers like first time derby photographer and long time skater Letter Havoc, brilliant announcing from folks knowledgeable of their state teams, great officiating and excellent production from the host league BuxMont. The tournament is always such a great start to the season because it shows the strength of the derby community all chipping in and pulling together to create a special experience that many skaters and fans would not have otherwise.

Leah Davidson

Silver medalists Team Colorado played a great team game all weekend with speedy jammers cutting up the opposition and lock down defense giving them the time and space to rack up points. Midge Wilhelm seems poised for another highlight reel season and Coyote winning Tournament MVP pivot may signal some Denver 2019 roster moves.

It was impossible to not notice Leah Davidson’s track presence in every jam she was out though. The well timed hits, the transitions from defense to offense and back again, the catches, all well executed.

POPTART MVP

Poptart was a revelation this weekend for Team Tennessee, just crushing apex jumps and putting so much pressure on the opposing defense. The Poptart v Foggy jams in the 7th place game were EPIC and I want more of them in the future. Tournament MVP jammer, well deserved. Tennessee entered in 11th and left in 8th.

Transfer Watch

Not a patron of our site? You may have missed that Yeti or Not (former Santa Cruz) has moved to New York City, or that Reptar (former Arch Rival) is now in Philly. You can’t really say you know how to scout derby teams if you don’t watch BOTAS each year. These games are a GOLD MINE.

California Love

California put together a team this year, without practice, and just how they’d play together at this tournament was a big question mark for me. They couldn’t pull off any upsets, but tight results saw the 8 seed leave in 6th. Their Frogmouth jerseys were also very, very nice.

Team Louisiana All Class

Team Louisiana had a strong showing, increasing their seeding position with two wins over Team Saskatchewan. My favourite Team Louisiana moment from the weekend is this though ❤️❤️❤️

Team Louisiana’s Carmina Piranha was also given the Kitty Klime Award this year at BOTAS. The award is given to someone who, “embodies the sport of roller derby on and off the track and just helps makes the roller derby community better for everyone.”

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Covering Women's Flat Track Roller Derby. Send pitches, tips, comments and releases to derbyapex@gmail.com