Detroit Derby Girls: Bouts 9 & 10

Bouts 9 & 10 of the Detroit Derby Girls 2012-13 season, on April 13th, 2013

Bout 9: Pistolwhippers versus the Detroit Pistoffs

This first bout had a slow start. No scoring by either team in the first jam, and the Pistolwhippers didn't score at all until the 6th, at which time the Pistoffs were up, 12-4. The first big play came in the 13th jam. Lazer Beam, as jammer for the Pistolwhippers, got sent to the penalty box. This allowed Cookie Rumble to score 11 points for the Pistoffs before getting sent to the box herself. As Cookie's penalty time ran over into the 14th jam, and Lazer was able to fire back by scoring 10. That put the score at 28-23, still in favor of the Pistoffs.

In the last jam of the first half, Midnight Vulture, jamming for the Pistolwhippers, and Kraken Whips, jamming for the Pistoffs, both spent time in the penalty box, but Kraken still managed to score 10 points. 75-31 for the Pistoffs at the end of the first half.

No scores were made in the first two jams of the second half. In jam 3 Uhura Belle Death scored 10 for the Pistolwhippers, while the Pistoffs' Combat Cat was sent to the penalty box.

The Pistoffs were still leading 85-65 at the end of the 9th jam. In the 10th Lazer Beam  scored 19 unanswered points while Freakin' Rican was in the penalty box, unable to score for the Pistoffs. The score was now just a one point deficit, but with the Pistoffs still ahead. Freakin' Rican scored 8 in the 11th, and Cookie Rumble scored 10 in the 13th. The Pistoffs were widening their lead again, at 103-84. Another big play by Cookie Rumble in the 15th jam added 13 points for her team.

A flurry of penalties made the 17th jam very confusing. Sam I Slam, as jammer for the Pistolwhippers, was still held over in the penalty box from the last jam. Combat Cat got sent to the penalty box, which released Sam early (since two jammers can't be in the penalty box at once). Sam got lead jammer status, then got sent back to the box, releasing Combat Cat early. Combat Cat would get sent to the box again before the jam was over. in the midst of all of that, Sam scored 5, and Combat scored 4.

Freakin' Rican made the last big play of the bout, scoring 15 in the 20th and final jam. Final score, 142-112 for the Pistoffs.

Captain Lazer Beam, and Co-captain Boo D. Livers of the Pistolwhippers:

Detroit Area Dork: What are you thinking about that bout right now?Lazer Beam: I'm happy about it. I thought we did really well. I think we played a very good game.
Boo D. Livers: I agree.
D: What do you think the other team did well?L: They have good jammers, and they play good defense. They're just a good team. They're the defending champions. Since I've been a Pistolwhipper we've never beat them, in three seasons. They're just good.
B: I think they're tenacious. They work hard. They did a good job.
D: How would you asses how your team did tonight?L: I think they did excellent. I'm proud of them. I told them when we got down in the locker room, "If I ever have to get in a street fight, I want you ladies with me". I think they did really good. I'm proud of them.
B: They're going to the championship and we only lost to them by like 20 points, but we hung with them. What it tells me is that next season, we're setting us up really well, and I'm excited about that.
D: Now that the season is over for you, how would you sum it up?B: I think we had some bad luck at the beginning of the season. A lot of our jammers disappeared, and we were trying to develop blockers into jammers, and they're getting there, but it was a big transition. I think next year, get a few more jammers, get some more jammer experience, and we're going to do really well.
L: I agree with that. I was the only returning jammer from last season. Sam and Uhura were both rookies last season, and they were blockers. They really stepped up this year.
D: Does your practice schedule change between now and next season?L: What happens now is we get to share practices with the teams that are going to the playoffs. We didn't have any alone practices for the rest of the year. However, the Whippers have more girls than any other team on the two travel teams, so they'll still be practicing. We also have a couple of girls that skate with the Wreckers. Hopefully they'll take advantage of league practice, come to the open travel and MCDL practices.
B: We're hope the momentum of our close games all season will keep people skating all summer, so we can come back even stronger. We've been building and building all year. There's a lot of good things, and we just want to keep it going.
D: I have to ask, how many penalties did you (Boo) get tonight?B: I got five.
L: Boo is a very aggressive player, and she stands out a lot. I think more girls in our league should skate at her level, and not skate down. We had a bout in Indianapolis with the allstar travel team, and she only went to the penalty box twice.
B: I seem to do pretty well on away games.
D: Did anyone on the team get more than five penalties?B: I don't think so.
L: No.
D: You didn't have to think about that too long, did you?B: No. At one point I had four, and everyone else had zero or one.
L: We made adjustments at halftime. We made some adjustments to the line, and it worked in the second half.
B: The team worked together to cover it. I really appreciate that.

Bout 10: The Devil's Night Dames versus the D-Funk Allstars

Heading into the second bout of the night, it was already set that these two teams, the D-Funk Allstars, and the Devil's Night Dames, were going to play each other in the Grudge Match for third place. Each team came in that night with a record of one win, two losses, and the Pistolwhippers had just ended the season without any victories.

First jam, Swift Justice scored 3 for the Dames, and Ally Sin Shoverland scored 4 for D-Funk. It was a series of small scoring jams, with D-Funk always a little bit ahead. Ally made the first big play, with a 14 point scoring drive in the 7th, to put D-Funk up, 28-11.

A lot more small scoring increments made up the first half. The only other notable exception to this was in the 24th jam. Roxanna Hardplace got lead jammer status and 9 points for D-Funk before getting sent to the penalty box. This allowed Terror Ettes to then score 15 points for the Dames. After just two more jams, the score at the end of the first half was 65-54 in D-Funk's favor.

The Dames didn't score for the first 3 jams of the second half. Feta Sleaze broke that streak for them with a 2 point play in the 4th. Doom Shakalaka then made the only big play for the Dames in the 5th when she scored 13. The score was now 73-69, D-Funk.

For the remaining 20 jams of the bout, the Dames would only score 10 more points. The Dames defense completely faltered, and D-Funk kept making big scoring drives. Roxanna scored 9 in the 8th. Ally scored 11 in the 11th. Meryl got 20 in the 13th. Ally scored another 14 in the 14th. Roxanna added another 20 in the 17th. Ally scored another 20 in the 19th. In the last big play of the night, Eight Mile Rose, who rarely ever jams, scored 20 for D-Funk in the 21st jam. What had been a very close game ended in a total rout, with D-Funk winning, 218-79.

League President, and member of D-Funk, Tinja:

Detroit Area Dork: What are your initial thoughts on that bout?Tinja: I thought it was a lot of fun. I think the Dames came in with a lot of heart, and proved that in the first half that they were hungry for a win.
D: How do you account for the change in momentum towards the end of the game?T: At halftime we definitely realized that we were up for a challenge. We went back to basics. We had also been working on a couple of different strategies and plays, and just relied on the fundamentals. Didn't try to get too distracted, and also tried to stay out of penalty trouble.
D: I don't think there was a lot of penalties. The most any player got was three.T: It was definitely either a cleaner game for both teams, or the stars and the moon aligned, and it was just a "let's play derby and have fun" game.
D: You're going to be playing the Dames again in the Grudge Match. What did you seen in this team that you need to prepare for in the next month?T: I can definitely see the hard work that they've been putting in all season. Great positional blocking. I know I got caught up on a couple of Dames' butts in the back. Some personal stuff that I need to work on as a jammer, but I saw great communication from them, and D-Funk is going to have to bring it at the grudge match. Bring it with love.

League Vice President, and member of the Devil's Night Dames, Tess Tackles:

Detroit Area Dork: What are your initial thoughts on that bout?Tess Tackles: We fought really hard. We had been working together a lot more. We had tight walls. We wanted to be a force to be reckoned with, and I think that we were, definitely, for the first half. Then the second half, we lost a little bit of steam. We had some party jams, where we got to throw in some different jammers, so that was a lot of fun. Always keeping a positve attitude.
D: The score was just four points apart at one point, and then D-Funk just took off. What happened to your team?T: We had a little penalty trouble. Our walls drifted apart a little bit, and the D-Funk jammers were just barreling through.
D: Same opponent for the Dames in the Grudge Match. What did you see in D-Funk that you need to prepare for?T: I think we'll have tighter walls. We'll also have Yo-yo and Catch [La Fever] back, which I think will be a benefit to us because we were little short. So just keep up the momentum, keep up the tight walls, and stop them barrelers, those jammers that were just busting through without us even getting the chance to block. We're going to stop them next time.

All photos by Dan Bachorik

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I'm a dork, I live in the Detroit area, and sometimes I take blurry photos on an outdated camera