Saturday evening. June 9. 7pm. A palpable tension in the air. On one side - the Hellcats, near the end of the best season in their history, ready for anything those Putas can throw at them. On the other side - the Putas del Fuego. Adding to that, there were several alternates to further shake things up. Defending their honor, the Hellcats had Hunter and Kate or Dye. For the Putas, Cocochina, crowd alternate favorite Titz McGee, and Lucky Harm skating as Dona Suerte.

The Putas won the first jam, with Chola getting the lead on Knottie Knoxville, and put one point on the scoredboard. The Hellcats worked hard, but couldn’t break through the line of Puta blockers. That didn’t dampen the Hellcat spirit one bit, and in the 2nd jam, the Hellcats brought it, adding a full jam to the score board, bringing the score to HC 4, PDF 3. The next two jams featured Dixie Sanchez vs Dona Suerte and Knottie Knoxville vs Death Vallery.

Neither team could get an edge on the other, and the score went from 5 to 5, to 6 to 6. Defense was tough on both sides, and you could tell the Putas were having to work hard, just by seeing the fierce determination in Chola’s face every time she skated around the banked end of the track. A couple of jams later, the Hellcats started to pull ahead thanks to some nice moves by Dirty Blonde, bringing the score to HC 9, PDF 7. The Hellcats kept this up for the next few jams, ending the first quarter with a Hellcat lead of 13 to the Putas 12. For the full re-cap please visit our News page.

The slight lead wouldn’t last. Dona Suerte skated against Knottie in the first jam of the second quarter. Both teams scored, but the bout was tied again - 14 all. Following that, the Putas turned the tables and maintained a small lead over the Hellcats. Going through the second quarter though, it was clear that the Putas didn’t have a monopoly on fierce determination - whoa to the person who gets in the way of a Hellcat on a mission! The lead stayed small, with the Putas only 2 points ahead for a while, but before you knew it, the Putas kept at it and ended the second quarter with a 6-point lead - PDF 21, HC 16. Both teams were giving this bout everything they had, and you could hear the excitement in the crowd during halftime. The second half turned out to be even more exciting than the first half.

The second quarter got off to a roaring start, but initially without many points scored. Then, the third jam happened. Old-school Chola entered the fray, taking off like a rocket and the roar of the crowd was deafening. Dixie Sanchez was jamming for the Hellcats, and hung back to block Chola from points, but to no avail - Chola racked up three more points, bringing the score to PDF 24, HC 15, with 5:02 left in the third quarter. The Putas kept up this trend for the next few jams, bringing the third quarter to a close with a score of PDF 29, HC 17. Could the Hellcats pull together and overcome the Putas 12-point lead?

The fourth quarter opened with Chola jamming against Knottie Knoxville. Knottie had some great jams in the first three quarters, really standing out, and becoming not just an asset to her team, but becoming a crowd favorite as well. The Hellcat blockers kept Chola at bay for a while, but ultimately she broke through the line, increasing the Puta lead to 13 points - PDF 3, HC 17.

With only a few minutes left in the final quarter, things were looking grim for the Hellcats. Then, the tide started to turn once again, with Dixie Sanchez and Dirty Blonde racking up some much-needed points, shrinking the Puta lead and closing the gap to PDF 30, HC 20. The Hellcats kicked it into high gear with the next jam. Dixie Sanchez faced off against Death Vallery. Death couldn’t make it through the HC defensive line, and Dixie snagged lead jammer status, and used it to bring home a full jam! The score now stood at PDF 30, HC 24. The Putas were nervous and called a time-out to revise their end-game strategy.

With only 4:00 left in the bout and “Eye of the Tiger” playing on the p.a., star rookie Knottie Knoxville faced off against Dona Suerte. This was a rough jam, with multiple falls for both teams and no points were scored. Over the next couple of jams, the Hellcats scored an additional point, and the Putas lost a point due to a penalty.

Then it was the last jam of the bout. One minute left on the clock. The score stood at Putas 29, Hellcats 25. The tension was so thick you could cut it like a knife. Would this bout end with a sudden death jam? It was like a scene out of an old western. You could sense the eerie music and almost see the tumbleweed roll across the floor, as the jammers, Dona Suerte and Dirty Blonde, faced off against each other like two gunfighters, putting it all on the line - for honor, for team pride, for a chance at the 2007 Calvello Cup.

The whistle blew and the last jam started. Dirty hit the pack first, but Dona was right behind, and soon was in the lead. She couldn’t call off the jam though - stepping off the inside of the track means you don’t have lead jammer status and can’t call it off. It looked like this might give the Hellcats the edge they needed to push the bout to suddean death. Dirty scored another point, but a Hellcat victory wasn’t in the stars - time ran out on the clock, giving the victory and a chance to take down the Holy Rollers in the Calvello Cup to the Putas del Fuego. Final score: Putas del Fuego 31, Hellcats 26.