WFTDA Bout Recap: (8) Detroit 105, (25) Ohio 57
Posted by Rusty Wheeler on January 22nd, 2008
COLUMBUS, OH — The Detroit Derby Girls (ranked #8 by WFTDA) traveled to Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday, January 19 and out-hustled, out-muscled, and just generally womanhandled the Ohio Roller Girls (ranked #25 by WFTDA) as Detroit cruised to a 105-57 victory. Detroit has had a history of sometimes starting slowly on an opponents’ floor, but Detroit had skated on Ohio’s SkateCourt surface four times at the Heartland Havoc tournament in 2007, and Detroit came out of the gate like they were shot out of a cannon, jumping out to a 17-2 lead after five jams, and the D-girls never looked back.
MP3: Post-bout interview with Ohio’s Pippi RipYaStockings (1:03)
Detroit opened the game alternating jammers Racer McChaseHer and Kat Von D’Stroya in the first five jams, and they gave Detroit their 17-2 lead in those jams, with Racer and Kat each scoring a grand slam along the way. Then Detroit jammed Polly Fester, Vega Vendetta, and Vicious Vixen in jams 6-8, but Ohio’s jammers Gypsy Warfare, Drrty Grrl, and Barracuda won those jams 7-0, getting lead jammer in all three of those jams and cutting Detroit’s lead to 17-9.
Detroit decided to go back to Racer in jam 9, but Ohio’s Pippi RipYourStockings won the jam 4-1, just calling the jam as Racer was entering the pack. That made the score 18-13 in Detroit’s favor, and with Ohio starting to come on strong, D-town called a time out to make some adjustments.
Detroit resumed their jammer rotation of Kat and Racer in jams 10-14, and Detroit won those jams by a 17-6 margin, upping the Detroit lead to 35-19. Kat had two more grand slams in that sequence. The rest of the half continued to go all Detroit’s way, with Detroit leading 57-30 at halftime. Of the 21 jams in the 1st half, Detroit got lead jammer 13 times to Ohio’s 7, and Detroit by far had the edge in hard hits.
In jam 2 of the 1st half, Detroit’s Elle McFearsome had flattened Hell Camino with a huge hit. In jam 8, Ohio’s Barracuda got flattened like a mackerel, which convinced ‘cuda to call that jam off posthaste. In jam 19, Detroit’s Diesel Doll drilled Ohio’s Foxy Force off the track and into referee Tootie Tinwhistle, rolling both of them into the stats crew seating area. In jam 20, Detroit’s Elle McFearsome lined up Pippi RipYourStockings for a Big Hit ™, but Pippi adroitly dodged the collision and Elle ended up sliding into the penalty box.
The Ohio skaters did manage to get in some hits of their own in the half. Ohio’s Gypsy Warfare got lead jammer in jam 6 when Detroit’s Polly Fester got knocked down in the pack. Ohio’s Barracuda took a bite out of Kat Von D’Stroya in jam 14 with a knockdown, although Kat was able to recover and go on to still get lead jammer in that jam, using a full minute of the jam to get that lead status.
The 2nd half started off much as the 1st half had, with Detroit outscoring Ohio 17-2 in the first four jams. Detroit’s Racer, Polly, Effin’ Money, and Racer (again) got lead jammer in each of those jams and so could score and then call off the jam before Ohio could score. This put the visitors up 74-32, significantly dimming Ohio’s comeback hopes.
The 5th jam was scoreless. D-town’s Kat got through first but was not lead jammer due to an infraction, but just before Kat could start to score Ohio’s HellionBOI broke the pack, got lead jammer, and called the jam. In jams 6 and 8, Ohio’s Gypsy Warfare outscored Detroit 8-0. Jams 7 and 9 were scoreless. In jam 7, right off the starting line Ohio’s jammer Pippi RipYourStockings deposited Detroit’s jammer Effin’ Money into the infield. Effin’ was able to recover and break the pack first, but was not lead jammer because she had been forced out of bounds before reaching engagement distance. Once again, just before Effin’ could come around and score, Pippi got lead and called the jam.
In jam 9, Detroit’s jammer Vicious Vixen got sent off to the penalty box, but Detroit’s blocking crew of Polly Fester, Bikini Killer, Diesel Doll, and Summers Eve-L played pinball with Ohio jammer HellionBOI, abusing Hellion severely and totally preventing her from ever initially breaking the pack in a jam that went the full two minutes without a lead jammer.
Detroit led 76-40 after the 9th jam of the 2nd half, and other than jams 11 and 12 where Detroit’s Vicious Vixen and Racer outscored Ohio 14-3, Detroit seemed more content to concentrate on defense rather than on scoring more. Racer didn’t jam again after jam 12, and Kat Von D’Stroya only jammed twice more to the end of the game.
In jam 11, Detroit’s Polly Fester had a bit of trouble getting to the penalty box. A couple of times she tried to get off the track and into the box but overshot the box, so had to go around the outside of the track again since skaters are not allowed to skate in the wrong direction to go to the penalty box. Finally Polly legally made her way into the penalty box, and Detroit’s guest announcer Big Poppa Razzi quipped, “Polly Fester is such a clean player, she doesn’t even know how to use the penalty box!”
Jams 16 and 17 saw a couple of interesting plays. In jam 16, Detroit’s Cookie Rumble, jamming for her only time in the game, got lead jammer over Ohio’s Drrty Grrl. Instead of trying to pull away, Cookie slowed way down and almost dared Drrty to try to pass. The pack also slowed down, and the jammers did eventually catch the pack, but Cookie then called the jam after outscoring Drrty 4-2 in that jam. Jam 17 saw Detroit’s Kat Von D’Stroya use the exact same tactic on Ohio’s Foxy Force, although eventually that jam was scored 4-4. (Notably, this jammer-defense is a hallmark of Carolina’s team, who used it against Detroit to great effect at 2007’s East Coast Extravaganza and again in the third-place bout of Heartland Havoc — a perfect example of how Detroit’s extensive tournament experience has taught and improved them.)
There was still some ferocious hitting going on throughout the 2nd half. Detroit’s Effin’ Money got drilled hard off the track in jam 3, causing her to call the jam even though Ohio’s jammer Pippi RipYourStockings was in the penalty box. As noted above, Pippi also dropped Effin’ into the infield in jam 7. In jam 12 Ohio’s Hell Camino had a nice block on Kat. And in jam 18 Hell Camino drove Effin’ Money out of bounds, receiving a major penalty for her hit, although it did allow Ohio’s Pippi to get lead jammer and win the jam 2-0. And in the very last jam of the game, jam 19, both jammers (Vega Vendetta and Drrty Grrl) took each other out of bounds in a jam that went to the end of clock time with neither able to get lead jammer.
In the 2nd half, Detroit outscored Ohio 48-27, with the Big D getting lead jammer in 11 of the half’s 19 jams. Ohio got lead in only 5 jams. A big reason Detroit was able to get so many more leads was due to the fine blocking by the Detroit defense. Detroit’s Assistant Captain (known affectionately in Detroit as the “asscap”) Cookie Rumble led the Detroit defense with 32 blocks and 8 knockdowns. Elle McFearsome had 12 blocks and 3 knockdowns. Other Detroiters who contributed to defense were Bikini Killer, Devil Kitty, Diesel Doll, Polly Fester (who blocked more than jammed), Rude Awakening, Sass Knuckles, Summers Eve-L, and Vega Vendetta and Vicious Vixen, who both also blocked more than jamming.
We don’t mention the names of derby blockers in these game recaps as often as we should, but the D-town wrecking crew often gave the Detroit jammers the opportunity to get their lead jammers by delaying the Ohio jammers in the pack long enough to give the Detroit jammers the edge.
And credit should also be given to the Ohio skaters. In spite of being down by a large margin late in the game, they never gave up. They skated hard right down to the last jam, as it should be. They had blockers Alli Catraz (team “asscap”), Barracuda (captain), Chewblocka, Dixie Heartless, Hell Camino, HellionBOI, ThaDevil, Triptease, Wild Irish Rose, and Ziggy StarBUST doing the majority of the “work in the trenches.”
For the statistically minded, Detroit’s Racer McChaseHer led all scorers with 57 points while jamming 14 times, getting 12 leads (a phenomenal 86% leads, setting the record for Detroit travel teams), and scoring 4 grand slams. Other Detroit scorers were: Kat Von D’Stroya (20 pts, 9 jams, 5 leads, 3 slams); Polly Fester (11 pts, 3 jams, 1 lead); Vicious Vixen (8 pts, 4 jams, 2 leads, 1 slam); Cookie Rumble (4 pts, 1 jam, 1 lead); Vega Vendetta (4 pts, 6 jams, 2 leads); Effin’ Money (1 point, 3 jams, 1 lead).
High scorer for Ohio was Pippi RipYourStockings with 25 points in 15 jams with 5 leads and 1 grand slam. Other OHRG jammers: Gypsy Warfare (12 pts, 8 jams, 2 leads); Foxy Force (7 pts, 4 jams, 2 leads); Drrty Grrl (6 pts, 7 jams, 1 lead); Hell Camino (5 pts, 2 jams); Barracuda (2 pts, 3 jams, 1 lead); HellionBOI (0 pts, 2 jams, 1 lead).
Detroit’s next match is a home intraleague match featuring the D-Funk Allstars vs. the Devil’s Night Dames on Saturday, February 9, while Ohio’s next travel team match is Sunday, February 17 in Baltimore, MD, versus the Charm City Roller Girls.
January 24th, 2008 at 1:00 am
The pics show Detroit’s travel team in red — is that a new official thingy?
January 24th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Detroit’s travel team has been red and white for their colors. They just had to wear their white shirts exclusively in their four games at the Heartland Havoc tourney in Columbus in 2007. I was actually sort of surprised that both teams were wearing their “dark” colored shirts. I thought that Detroit would have been in their white tops again. But hey! — it gave the game a nice Christmas feel what with all of the red and green!
– Rusty Wheeler
February 15th, 2008 at 6:06 am
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