The Issaquah Press
SPORTS
Page C4
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2011
BY LAURA GEGGEL
PHOTOS BY GREG FARRAR
At left, Grave Danger roller derby team members with names like Georgia O’Grief, SHedonist, Sara Problem and Carmen Getsome warm up for the crowd at KeyArena to see the Rat City Rollergirls 2011 League Championship. Above, Re-AnimateHer thanks fans with a smile and a wave.
DANGEROUS CURVES
Above, Cecilia Hanley, who goes by ReAnimateHer for the roller derby team Grave Danger, wears a jammer cap on her helmet during practice at KeyArena July 10 before the 2011 championship match against the Throttle Rockets. At right, Jessica Ivey, who goes by the name Scarlet Leather, takes warmup laps. At far right, Re-AnimateHer (left) gets a push for added momentum from teammate and fellow Issaquah resident Candice Cooper, or Stella Borracha, as they practice strategy and tactics before Grave Danger’s 112-104 championship victory over the Throttle Rockets. Below right, Cooper does a split as she warms up on the flat oval course at KeyArena.
ISSAQUAH WOMEN PACK A PUNCH — AND THRILL CROWDS — AS RAT CITY ROLLERGIRLS
he first time Cecilia Hanley saw roller derby, she was standing on stilts at a Maxim Magazine Super Bowl party in Detroit. “I was like, ‘Why am I on stilts when I could be on roller skates?’” she said. She packed her bags and moved to Seattle, “because at the time, Rat City was the best league and I wanted to skate for the best league,” she said. Now, Hanley, known as Re-AnimateHer, skates for the team Grave Danger, and has one of the biggest fan followings of any Rat City Rollergirl, with more than 2,200 fans on Facebook. “I really try to interact with my fans,” she said. “I go to the crowds and I wave. When I’m skating on the line, I’m a little more showboaty, but people are coming to see a show.” Hanley is one of three Issaquah women who skate for Grave Danger. The others, Candice Cooper (alias Stella Borracha) and Jessica Ivey (Scarlet Leather) also make the commute from Issaquah to Seattle almost daily to practice with their team or to compete at KeyArena. “This is one of the most empowering things that has happened for our generation of women,” Ivey said. Rat City Rollergirls, coined after an old nickname of White Center south of Seattle, began in 2004. The league has four teams — Grave Danger, Derby Liberation Front, Sockit Wenches and Throttle Rockets — each with 20 players per team. The league also has
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See RAT
ROLLER DERBY RULES Competitions, called bouts, are divided into two 30-minute halves. Each team has one jammer and four blockers. The jammers try to pass the blockers on the opposing team. After they pass them once, jammers score points for every opposing blocker they pass during a two-minute jam. Watch the “The Basics of Flat Track Roller Derby” video online on YouTube.
CITY, Page B5
ON THE WEB
Find the derby on Facebook at Rat City Rollergirls, Grave Danger or search for your favorite player’s name. Learn more about the sport, see videos and buy tickets online at www.ratcityrollergirls.com.
Lakeside Recovery 17-U wins regional tourney, heads to state By Bob Taylor Issaquah Press sports editor When Mark Thorpe was assembling his Lakeside Recovery 17-U baseball team, he had a hunch it was state-tournament caliber. Thorpe’s hunch proved accurate. The Lakeside Recovery 17-U team is playing in the American Legion AA state tournament this week at Gonzaga Prep in Spokane. The club opened tournament play Aug. 2 against Mead. Classified as the Lakeside Recovery Baseball Club’s junior team, the 17-U group has had an amaz-
ing season to date. The team, mostly Issaquah and Newport high school players, entered the state tournament with a 39-18 record. Lakeside Recovery 17-U won the District II Divisional tournament last week at Bannerwood. In the title game, Lakeside Recovery 17-U defeated the Renton Cannons, a team composed of Liberty High School players, 6-3. The Cannons, who surprised Woodinville, 10-6, in a consolation game, also qualified for state but decided not to participate because the team did not have enough players. Woodinville replaced the
Cannons as the District II No. 2 team. Lakeside Recovery 17-U opened the district tournament July 26 with a 15-5 rout of Bellevue Legion. Then on July 27, Lakeside Recovery 17-U edged Woodinville, 4-3, in an eight-inning battle. “It has been a good season and hopefully it will just keep on getting better,” said Thorpe, who has been the 17-U head coach for three years. Thorpe coached a Lakeside 17-U team, composed of Newport players, to the AA state tournament last year, too. The Lakeside pro-
gram had separate junior teams for Issaquah, Skyline and Newport. This year, the Lakeside program decided to have just one 17U team. “When I looked at our roster from the fall tryouts, I knew we had a good team. All the Newport kids were more experienced and stronger. The Issaquah kids were good players. I thought we had a team that should qualify for state,” Thorpe said. The team got off to a hot start, See LAKESIDE, Page C5
Danny Rawlings, of Lakeside Recovery 17-U, hits during the fifth inning July 28 against the Renton Cannons. He doubled and reached home in the fourth inning on a sacrifice RBI by Ioannis Kritsonis in the 6-3 victory. BY GREG FARRAR