TAMPA, FL -- On Saturday night, 9th-ranked Detroit dealt 38th-ranked Tampa Bay  their first ever home defeat as the DDG easily won 157-61. Detroit had five different jammers each score at least 24 points, but it was Detroit's defense that set the stage for DDG's victory by controlling most of the packs. Detroit never trailed in the game, and held a 84-31 lead at halftime.

1st Half

Detroit started Roxanna Hardplace at pivot, Fatal Femme, KIllbox, and Cookie Rumble as blockers, and Polly Fester at jammer. Tampa countered with Sasha Haughtbich at pivot, Punkin, Rock-C, and Frieda KIlligan as blockers, and Wild Cherri at jammer. Polly Fester quickly got lead jammer, then was able to get through the pack to score 4 points, then just as quickly called off the jam before Wild Cherri could catch the back of the pack to score for Tampa. Detroit led it 4-0. Jam 2 saw Tampa strike back. DDG's jammer Kat Von D'Stroya was sent off with a major penalty for cutting the track (the first of 9 such penalties whistled on various jammers on the night), then TBDD's Madame Battle Axe got lead jammer and won the jam 3-0 for Tampa. That cut the DDG lead to 4-3, and that was as close as Tampa got the rest of the way.

Tampa kept it close for the next few jams -- the score stood at Detroit 20, Tampa Bay 17 after 7 jams -- but the floodgates opened for Detroit in jams 8 & 9. In jam 8, DDG's Kat Von D'Stroya skated to a triple grand slam 15-3 jam win over Strawberry Shortskate. Then DDG's Roxanna Hardplace got a double grand slam jam win, 14-0, over Flirtin' W Disaster. Roxanna broke the pack first, without lead jammer status -- but Flirtin' was never able to get out of the pack due to the strong Detroit blocking by Racer McChaseHer, Devil Kitty, Vicious Vixen, and Cookie Rumble. Detroit then led it 49-20.

Jams 10-11 saw DDG's Killbox win 4-0 followed by a 4-4 tie between DDG's Racer McChaseHer and TBDD's Wild Cherri. Jam 12 got the Tampa crowd back cheering as Wild Cherri scored a 5-0 grand slam over DDG's Killbox. It was then 57-29 for Detroit. Jams 13-16 saw Detroit's defense totally shut out Tampa while DDG's jammers were scoring 19 points, including grand slams by Cookie Rumble (in her sole jamming effort of the night) and KIllbox. Then in the final jam of the first half, DDG's Racer McChaseHer scored an 8-2 jam win to give Detroit an 84-31 lead at the half.

Detroit had the edge in lead jammers in the 1st half, 10-5. Detroit's blockers also totally controlled the fronts of most of the packs, with much hard hitting. Tampa did try to mount some attacks on Detroit's blocking walls, but for the most part DDG's blockers could deflect those attacks. Detroit's jammers were sent to the penalty box four times in the half, and Tampa's jammers were banished 3 times.

2nd Half

After a scoreless opening jam, DDG's Kat Von D'Stroya took advantage of Tampa's Madame Battle Axe being sent to the penalty box. Kat scored 3 points, then was whistled off to the box herself, thereby prematurely ending the jam as a 3-0 DDG win. Detroit's Killbox got a 5-0 grand slam over Strawberry Shortskate in jam 3, but then Killbox was sent off with a major. Detroit's blocking wall of Kat Von D'Stroya, Fatal Femme, Diesel Doll, and Del Bomber totally shut down any Tampa attacks and thus contained Shortcake in the pack.

Tampa Bay got lead jammer in jam 4 as Flirtin' W Disaster won the jam 4-3 over Detroit's Killbox who was sent back to the box at jam's end. Detroit was jammerless in jam 5 with Killbox in the box, and Tampa Bay's Wild Cherri got a 5-0 grand slam win out of that situation, although Detroit still led 95-40.

Killbox came out of the box early in jam 6, got lead jammer, scored four points, then passed the jammer's star to pivot Roxanna Hardplace who was able to rack up another 3 points in a 7-0 jam win for Detroit. Tampa's Madame Battle Axe had been sent to the penalty box in that jam.

Detroit solidified its dominance in the middle of the 2nd half. Detroit won jams 8, 9, 11, 12, and 13 with each of those jams' jammers (Kat Von D'Stroya, Roxanna Hardplace, Racer McChaseHer, Polly Fester, and Diesel Doll, respectively) scoring 5 points, including slams by Kat, Racer, and Polly. Tampa did manage a 9-0 slam win in jam 10 by Kat A Killzem, but after jam 13 the score was 131-55 in favor of Detroit. In that jam 10, Tampa Bay's Boom Hilda did have a nice blind-side knockdown of Detroit's Cookie Rumble which was then accented by Cookie being sent off to the penalty box. There was much head-hunting going on both ways in that jam 10, even more than some of the other jams.

Towards the end of the game, it seemed that perhaps Tampa's skaters let up a little, and that let Detroit score some more easy points. Roxanna Hardplace scored two more grand slams in jam 14 to win the jam 10-0, and DDG's Polly Fester and KIllbox each scored a slam in jams 17 & 18 to end the game. In the final 5 jams of the period, Tampa could only muster a pair of 3 point jams, and so at game's end Detroit had skated away with a well-deserved 157-61 victory. (The scoreboard had said 156-61, but the official score was later corrected.) Detroit had 12 lead jammers in the 2nd half to 6 for Tampa.

Afterthoughts

These two teams had one recent common opponent, Atlanta. Detroit had beaten Atlanta by 96 points, and Atlanta had beaten Tampa by 62 points, so it was expected that Detroit would win easily, and they did. As Atlanta's announcing crew pointed out, it was also the first time Tampa had lost a home travel team match. As has been the usual case with Detroit's travel team, their hard-nosed blockers controlled most of the packs. Tampa's blockers couldn't overcome Detroit's blocking walls during most jams. Even a couple of times when Detroit's jammer was in the penalty box, the Detroit blockers could still contain Tampa's jammer in the pack. Detroit also had a strong five-jammer rotation that were all equally effective, so Tampa couldn't key on just one or two jammers to try to stop.

That all being said, Tampa's Wild Cherri and Rock-C looked to be talented jammers. The announcers kept mentioning that Rock-C was a rookie, although I did find out later she did have some previous derby experience elsewhere. Wild Cherri was voted as Tampa's MVP jammer of the game, and Kat A Killzem was Tampa's MVP blocker of the game. I also thought Bettie Kruger played a strong defensive game for Tampa. Detroit honors went to Racer McChaseHer as MVP jammer, and Del Bomber as MVP blocker.

Scoring

Detroit's KIllbox led all jammers with 35 points in 10 jams with 5 leads and 3 grand slams. Other Detroit scorers were: Roxanna Hardplace (32 points, 4 jams, 2 leads, 4 slams); Racer McChaseHer (29 pts, 5 jams, 4 leads, 1 slam); Kat Von D'Stroya (26 pts, 5 jams, 3 leads, 4 slams); Polly Fester (24 pts, 6 jams, 6 leads, 2 slams); Diesel Doll (6 pts, 3 jams, 1 lead); Cookie Rumble (5 pts, 1 jam, 1 lead, 1 slam).

Tampa was led by Wild Cherri with 23 points in 7 jams with 2 leads and 1 grand slam. Other Tampa scorers were: Rock-C (17 points, 7 jams, 5 leads, 1 slam); Kat A Killzem (9 pts, 2 jams, 1 lead, 1 slam); Madame Battle Axe (5 pts, 8 jams, 2 leads); Flirtin' W Disaster (4 pts, 7 jams, 1 lead); Strawberry Shortskate (3 pts, 4 jams).

Detroit was led defensively by Cookie Rumble with 26 defensive blocks, 10 assists, and 6 knockdowns, and by Del Bomber with 22 blocks, 9 assists, and 6 KDs. Racer McChaseHer also excelled on defense with 14 blocks, 6 assists, and 1 KD. Killbox had 4 KDs for Detroit.

Tampa was led on D by Bettie Kruger with 11 defensive blocks and 3 assists. Anita Bopabitch had 4 blocks and an assist, and Kat A Killzem had 4 blocks.

Future

Detroit takes on their most serious challenge since last year Nationals in their next all-star game, traveling to Austin, TX to battle #5 Texas on September 7, although Detroit sends their Motor City Disassembly Line to play in Kalamazoo vs. the Killamazoo Derby Darlins on August 16.

Tampa's next home game is on September 6 with their home championship game between the Cigar City Mafia and the Switchblade Sisters.

Photos: eccentric-photography.com