By Touretta Lynn

The Naptown Roller Girls’ Tornado Sirens took on Nashville, Tennessee’s Music City Rhythm & Bruisers for NRG’s Jan. 13 preliminary bout of their 2007 season at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. Both teams, new to the track, put up a good fight for the more than 2,200 spectators in attendance, but Naptown’s Tornado Sirens came away the winners with a 160-116 finish. The first period saw both teams putting in good hits while they gained their footing and adjusted to the opposing team’s play. Nashville shut down Naptown in the first two jams, before Naptown’s jammer Jane Ire started putting points on the Indy scoreboard. Points were spread evenly between both teams during short jams, until the ninth and tenth jams, when Naptown’s Jroller scored 12 points in the ninth, and Nashville collected 11 points in the tenth. Naptown’s J Roller was the high-scoring jammer for the team in the first period, plunking 16 points on the Tornado Sirens’ scoreboard. Jane Ire followed closely with 15 points; Lethal Chrissy brought in 11 points, Mizz Understood earned 7 points, and Joan of Dark added 2 points to Naptown’s score. After 13 jams, the period ended with Nashville ahead 52-51.

The second period started with what would become a trend for the period: Naptown scored points while shutting down Nashville’s jammers during seven out of the period’s 12 jams. Lethal Chrissy was Naptown’s high-scoring jammer for the period with an 8-point win in the third jam, and 14 points overall. Naptown’s Joan of Dark scored 13 points, Jane Ire brought in 10 points, Jroller collected 7 points, and Mizz Understood took 5 points, adding another 51 points to the Naptown scoreboard, with Nashville only scoring 23 points for the period. The score at the end of the second period showed Naptown in the lead 102-75.

Nashville started out strong in the first two jams of the third period, but started to show some wear, while Naptown’s Sirens, used to rigorous training under their coach Mr. Whip’s direction, remained strong. Naptown shut down Nashville another two jams in the period while keeping their lead in points. Naptown’s jammers Jroller and Lethal Chrissy both were the high-scoring jammers with 16 points going to each of them while Jane Ire earned 10 points, and Joan of Dark and Mizz Understood both brought in 8 points each. The final score, with fans on their feet, Naptown’s Sweet C and Red Rocket both skateless from fouling out and topless in celebration, and the rest of the Naptown crew taking their victory lap, was 160-116.

Blurred visions of tattoos, fishnets and skates and the blood-curdling screams of sirens can mean only one thing: The Naptown Roller Girls’ Tornado Sirens have arrived. The Tornado Sirens, the competing roller derby team for Indy’s Naptown Roller Girls league, kicked off their 2007 season on Jan. 13 with “Cherry Stomp,” a crowd-pleasing bout against Tennessee’s Nashville Roller Girls. Fully trained by one fast-talking and pants-wearing coach, Mr. Whip, the Tornado Sirens were able to take the lead in the second period and hold it throughout the bout, with a 160-116 win over Nashville. The triumph brought the event’s more than 2,200 spectators at the Indiana State Fairgrounds to their feet, and it left both Naptown’s fans and its skate-bearing broads ready for more action. The 14 ladies that make up the Tornado Sirens team, clad in red and black and who go by monikers such as Mizz Understood, Joan of Dark and Lethal Chrissy, are ready to throw-down with any roller derby opponent in a skating, swirling and sweating clash, and they’ll be going up against Fort Wayne’s Derby Girls in their second bout, “Hoosier Valentine?” on Feb. 3, 2007 in the Champions Pavilion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

With four home bouts left in the season, The Tornado Sirens are ready to prove to Indianapolis and the world that roller derby isn’t just a bunch of fights and flash; it’s the coolest sport there ever was for women, specifically for these Indianapolis women who proudly wield their wheels with speed, skill and a few bruises, to boot.

A HUGE thank you to our visiting team, visiting ref, visiting announcer, visiting roller girl friends, volunteers and fans. We had a blast!

Complete bout re-cap, coming soon!

And, we promise! MORE SEATING FOR THE NEXT ONE!!!!