Texecutioners on the Oregon Trail

A frantic weekend in women's flat-track derby at the annual WFTDA Western Regionals held at the Verizon Theater in Houston. Out of 12 teams in the opening brackets, four teams won seedings and now progress to the national championship in Portland, Ore., (Nov 14-16) to face the winners of next weekend's Eastern Regionals. And the big four are:

No. 1 Texecutioners: With a first-round bye, Austin's own didn't roll until Saturday morning when they defeated the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls (173-50). They then faced their nemesis from the 2008 Nationals, the Rat City Rollergirls, earning a spectacular and hard-fought victory (108-94). They topped off the weekend with a definitive win (135-59) over the new No. 2 seeds from the Bay Area.

No. 2: B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls: Slicing through Rose City (120-95), B.A.D.'s hard-hitting style sent Duke City Derby flying (117-73). But the West Coast couldn't dislodge Texas in the final.

No. 3 Rat City Rollergirls: Last year's national runners-up started hard with a pummeling win over Tucson (170-81), but couldn't make it two-for-two over Texas, instead settling for a run-off hammering of Duke City (158-95)

No. 4 Duke City Derby: The only previously unseeded team in the top four, Albuquerque passed Pike's Peak Derby Dames (138-99) on Friday. They then threw in the biggest upset of the year, demolishing 2007 national champions the Kansas City Roller Warriors (132-117). Unfortunately, the Cinderella story faltered under the tough offense of B.A.D. and Rat City.

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