Shawna "BabyCakes" Buness, left, Janell "Psycho Squirrel" Hays, Katie "AssassinKate" Robbins, John "Johnny Ego" Waddington and Doug "RunningMan" Robbins, all of Wrangell, participate in the scrimmage.
The Garnett Grit Betties traveled to Petersburg for a melding of roller derby minds the weekend of Jan. 18.
The bout wasn't a competition. Teams from Ketchikan and Petersburg joined with the Wrangell team, then separated into two different randomly selected teams for the bout as a learning exercise, said team coach Shawna "BabyCakes" Buness.
"The goal of this weekend wasn't to compete," she said. "It was just to learn because the three of us teams have never bouted before."
In all, seven skaters and four local referees joined in the mayhem.
The Betties will be conducting fundraisers in the coming months to fund a joint Southeast team to participate in the Alaska State Tournament in May. Fundraising efforts will include cake pop sales, etched pint glasses, and tee shirts, Buness said.
The Betties had been looking for enough participants to field a whole team, until local skater stepped up to make up the distance. While the Betties aren't the largest team out there – the joint Southeast team is in part a way to ensure that all three Southeast teams are competitive at the much larger Anchorage tournament – they're still large enough to compete against smaller teams.
"We'll have a full 20-person roster for the state tournament," Buness said.
The team plans to one day hold a public bout in Wrangell, if they can find a venue large enough to safely accommodate the rink.
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