This Saturday night, May 19, the Cincinnati Rollergirls will finish their 13th home season and their second season at Schmidt Memorial Fieldhouse on the Xavier University campus with their inaugural Pride Night.

At 6 p.m., the 84th-ranked Cincinnati Rollergirls’ Black Sheep will take on on the 109th-ranked Twin City Derby Girls from Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. The Sheep are 3-2 overall this season and 1-1 at home, as they lost a nailbiter in the opening game of the season by 19 points to Boulder County and then beat West Virginia a month later by 45 points. This is a favorable matchup for the Sheep, but they will have to win by an impressive margin to move up in the WFTDA rankings.
This will be the second meeting between the Black Sheep and Twin City. The Sheep won by 46 points the first time these two teams met on the flat track back in 2015 at the Cincinnati Gardens. There have been many changes to the Cincinnati roster since then, so it will be interesting to see how that will affect this rematch.
Speaking of roster changes, this will be the final home game for three CRG skaters: Crum, Kitten Kicker and Mama Crass. After this summer’s away games, Kitten and Crass are planning to hang up their skates and head into retirement, joining Cherry Choke and La Bruja, who both retired earlier this year. (There are already rumors circulating that Crass will be transitioning into the announce booth next year.)
But this may not be the last we see of Crum on the flat track, as she’s only leaving CRG because her career is taking her out of state. Going with her will be her husband, assistant CRG coach and Cincinnati Battering Rams skater Rosencrum. All of these skaters made a big impact on the Cincinnati roller derby scene both on the track and off, and they’ll be missed by their teammates and fans alike.
While the roster has had a few changes this season with a few people rotating on and off the Sheep, I think we are finally seeing their best roster of the season with this game. It’s a great mix of talent which includes Sheep staples such as Jas Hubbard, Ellie Stab’er and Sailor Scary and newcomers to the roster such as Doom. This entire team is well conditioned and is able to press the pace to exhaust other teams’ jammers.
The second game of the night will feature the Violent Lambs taking on Naptown’s Warning Belles. This has definitely been a rebuilding season for the Lambs, who currently have a record of 3-4. One of those losses was to the Warning Belles by 246 points in Indianapolis at the beginning of the month. While I can’t predict the future, I think the Lambs are going to have a hard time trying to beat a team that they lost to by triple digits a few weeks ago, but I bet they took something away from that loss and will be making some adjustments this Saturday night.
Ultimately this game doesn’t come down to winning or losing, but more importantly, winning or learning. The Lambs team is primarily made up of younger players and/or players that have only been playing for a handful of seasons. In a few years, when some of these players are competing on the Sheep, this game won’t matter — but the lessons that they learned from it will.
Finally, this Saturday is also Pride Night. We encourage you to wear your finest rainbow-colored accessories and get there early for a special Pride-themed giveaway (doors open at 5 p.m.). And regardless of whether you can make the game in person, be sure to order your CRG Pride shirt online here. Proceeds will be split between CRG and two of their special guests at Saturday night’s game, GLSEN Cincinnati and Lighthouse Family & Youth Services.
And no matter what happens on Saturday, one thing’s for sure: CRG will always be a team you can be proud of.
-Tank
For more information about Pride Night and to buy tickets, click here.
Haven’t been to a CRG game at Schmidt yet? Read our game day tips.

CRG Black Sheep vs. Twin City Evil Twins (6 p.m.)

Black Sheep: 13 – Little Bull // 135 – Jas Hubbard // 15 – Mae Murder // 16 – Garden of Beatin’ // 26 – Mama Crass // 27 – Poppy Chulo // 30 – Kitten Kicker // 43 – Wheezy // 533 – Royal T // 6313 – Ellie Stab’er // 79 – Train N Pain // 8 – Doom // 89 – Hustle // 92 – Sailor Scary // 93 – Crum // Alternate: 21 – Ada Burnlace
Twin City: 19 – Lil Booty Two Shoes // 217 – POWLA // 22 – Tommy Knocker // 28 – La Jam Nikita // 30 – Anvil SmashHerNasty // 316 – Holy Steamroller // 349 – Emme Mortal // 41 – Brass Monke // 411 – Brawly Pocket // 42 – Bubbly Brawler // 669 – Chaquita Bandita // 67 – Natty Slice // 8 – Vlie // 93 – Tank // 968 – Double Painbow

CRG Violent Lambs vs. Naptown Warning Belles (8 p.m.)

Violent Lambs: 13 – Little Bull // 15 – Mae Murder // 154 – Crystal Whip // 16 – Garden of Beatin’ // 21 – Ada Burnlace // 26 – Mama Crass // 27 – Poppy Chulo // 29 – Redrum // 4 – Loko // 6 – CleoPAINtra // 626 – Noah Pologies // 63 – Princess Derby // 666 – Hail Skatin // 713 – The Slayer // 83 – Jungle Lacy // Alternate: Moreno Mauler
Warning Belles: 00 Roulette Wheels // 003 Buttercup // 12 Oreo SlamHer // 117 Cersei Slamister // 162 Armagayddon // 29 Blazin’ Blitz // 303 Jade Savage // 305 Rocket Docket // 424 NamaSlay // 50 Shades of Cray // 541 Wonder Dread // 808 Boomsday // 9 Warp Speed // 913 Flannery O’Clobber // 934 Black Eye Sue