SPORTS� �

The Issaquah Press

�WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2011Page C4

T he first time Cecilia Hanleysaw roller derby, she wasstanding on stilts at aMaxim Magazine SuperBowl party in Detroit.

“I was like, ‘Why am I on stiltswhen I could be on rollerskates?’” she said.

She packed her bags and movedto Seattle, “because at the time,Rat City was the best league and Iwanted to skate for the bestleague,” she said.

Now, Hanley, known as Re-Ani-mateHer, skates for the teamGrave Danger, and has one of thebiggest fan followings of any RatCity Rollergirl, with more than2,200 fans on Facebook.

“I really try to interact with myfans,” she said. “I go to thecrowds and I wave. When I’mskating on the line, I’m a littlemore showboaty, but people arecoming to see a show.”

Hanley is one of three Issaquahwomen who skate for Grave Dan-ger. The others, Candice Cooper(alias Stella Borracha) and JessicaIvey (Scarlet Leather) also makethe commute from Issaquah toSeattle almost daily to practicewith their team or to compete atKeyArena.

“This is one of the most empow-ering things that has happened forour generation of women,” Iveysaid.

Rat City Rollergirls, coined afteran old nickname of White Centersouth of Seattle, began in 2004.The league has four teams —Grave Danger, Derby LiberationFront, Sockit Wenches and Throt-tle Rockets — each with 20 play-ers per team. The league also has

DANGEROUS CURVES ISSAQUAH WOMEN PACK A PUNCH — AND

THRILL CROWDS — AS RAT CITY ROLLERGIRLS

BY LAURA GEGGEL

PHOTOS BY GREG FARRAR

At left, Grave Danger roller derbyteam members with names likeGeorgia O’Grief, SHedonist, SaraProblem and Carmen Getsome warmup for the crowd at KeyArena to seethe Rat City Rollergirls 2011 LeagueChampionship. Above, Re-AnimateHerthanks fans with a smile and a wave.

By Bob TaylorIssaquah Press sports editor

When Mark Thorpe was assem-bling his Lakeside Recovery 17-Ubaseball team, he had a hunch itwas state-tournament caliber.Thorpe’s hunch proved accurate.

The Lakeside Recovery 17-Uteam is playing in the AmericanLegion AA state tournament thisweek at Gonzaga Prep in Spokane.The club opened tournament playAug. 2 against Mead.

Classified as the Lakeside Recov-ery Baseball Club’s junior team,the 17-U group has had an amaz-

ing season to date. The team,mostly Issaquah and Newport highschool players, entered the statetournament with a 39-18 record.Lakeside Recovery 17-U won theDistrict II Divisional tournamentlast week at Bannerwood.

In the title game, Lakeside Re-covery 17-U defeated the RentonCannons, a team composed of Lib-erty High School players, 6-3. TheCannons, who surprised Wood-inville, 10-6, in a consolationgame, also qualified for state butdecided not to participate becausethe team did not have enoughplayers. Woodinville replaced the

Cannons as the District II No. 2team.

Lakeside Recovery 17-U openedthe district tournament July 26with a 15-5 rout of Bellevue Le-gion. Then on July 27, LakesideRecovery 17-U edged Woodinville,4-3, in an eight-inning battle.

“It has been a good season andhopefully it will just keep on get-ting better,” said Thorpe, who hasbeen the 17-U head coach forthree years.

Thorpe coached a Lakeside 17-Uteam, composed of Newport play-ers, to the AA state tournamentlast year, too. The Lakeside pro-

gram had separate junior teamsfor Issaquah, Skyline and New-port. This year, the Lakeside pro-gram decided to have just one 17-U team.

“When I looked at our rosterfrom the fall tryouts, I knew wehad a good team. All the Newportkids were more experienced andstronger. The Issaquah kids weregood players. I thought we had ateam that should qualify for state,”Thorpe said.

The team got off to a hot start,

ROLLER DERBY RULES

Competitions, called bouts, aredivided into two 30-minute halves.

Each team has one jammer andfour blockers. The jammers try to

pass the blockers on the opposingteam. After they pass them once,

jammers score points for everyopposing blocker they pass during

a two-minute jam. Watch the“The Basics of Flat Track Roller

Derby” video online on YouTube.

See RAT CITY, Page B5

Above, Cecilia Hanley,who goes by Re-

AnimateHer for the rollerderby team Grave Danger,

wears a jammer cap onher helmet during practiceat KeyArena July 10 before

the 2011 championshipmatch against the Throttle

Rockets. At right, JessicaIvey, who goes by the

name Scarlet Leather,takes warmup laps. At farright, Re-AnimateHer (left)

gets a push for addedmomentum from team-

mate and fellow Issaquahresident Candice Cooper,

or Stella Borracha, as theypractice strategy and tac-tics before Grave Danger’s

112-104 championshipvictory over the Throttle

Rockets. Below right,Cooper does a split as she

warms up on the flat ovalcourse at KeyArena.

ON THE WEB

Find the derby on Facebook atRat City Rollergirls, Grave Dangeror 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

See LAKESIDE, Page C5

Danny Rawlings,of LakesideRecovery 17-U,hits during thefifth inning July28 against theRenton Cannons.He doubled andreached home inthe fourth inningon a sacrificeRBI by IoannisKritsonis in the6-3 victory.

BY GREGFARRAR