Photo by Life in Still Photography
For both teams this was a chance for some much needed redemption, as they both entered the bout with a 0-1 record. The returning champs, The Pistoffs, lost their first game by only one point, so they must have been dying to prove that they're still contenders. The Pistolwhippers lost their previous bout by a wider margin (162-128), but you know that their stand-out talents have the potential to perfectly gel at any given moment.
Photo by Life in Still Photography
In the first jam Pistolwhipper Meli Ali took lead jammer status against the Pistoffs' Cookie Rumble, but would end up the box. Despite some tough defense from the Pistolwhippers, Cookie was able to score 15 in the power jam, to Meli's 6. Tara To Pieces gave the 'Whippers 5 in the second jam, while the third went scoreless as jammers Meli Ali and Mean Streak played musical chairs in the penalty box.
Photo by Life in Still Photography
The fourth jam had the first grand slam of the night. Captain Kraken Whips gave the Pistoffs 17 unanswered points to put her team ahead 32-11. The Pistolwhippers immediately responded with a big play of their own. Pistoff jammer Elle McFearsome went to the penalty box, along with several of her team's blockers, allowing Honey Suckit to score 25 points, and give the Whippers the lead, 36-32, for the first time in the game. Meli Ali would increase that lead to 45-32 in the sixth. Tara quickly called off the next jam after she and Cookie each gave their team a point, and just before Cookie was about to pass her.
Photo by Scott Lipiec
A huge play by the Pistoffs' Freakin' Rican would give her team the lead back in the eight jam at 53-46. She scored 20 as opposing jammer Meli Ali went to the box for the third time. Jams nine and ten saw some small incremental scoring from both sides, with the Pistoffs still leading, 60-48.
Photo by Scott Lipiec
Several Pistolwhipper blockers went to the box in the eleventh jam, allowing Pistoff Mean Streak to score 9 unanswered points. Pistolwhipper Lazer Beam won lead jammer status against Freakin' Rican in the twelfth, and made a scoring pass before going to the box. Pistolwhipper blockers put on a great a defense, prevented Rican from capitalizing on the power jam, and kept the score to roughly the same differential, at 73-53.
Photo by Life in Still Photography
Aside from 8 unanswered point by Tara To Pieces in the fourteenth jam, the rest of the half played out with smaller point additions, and ended 79-62 with the Pistoffs still in the lead.
Photo by Life in Still Photograpy
Half time was hula-hoops for the kids again. Simple but amusing.
Photo by Life in Still Photography
The second half started just as the first did, with Meli Ali jamming against Cookie Rumble. Meli would go to the penalty box, just as first half started, and Cookie would score 15 points...just as the first half started. The difference this time is that Meli didn't score herself before going to the box, and now her team was down 94-62.
Photo by Scott Lipiec
Small incremental point additions for the Pistoffs in jams two through five added up, while the Pistolwhippers only managed to add two, making it 102-64. Pistoff Combat Cat took lead jammer status quickly in the sixth jam, but soon after went to the box. Tara To Pieces capitalized on the power jam, scoring a double grand slam, and shrinking her team's point deficit, 102-79. Lazer Beam scored 5 in the seventh to chip away at the deficit even more.
Photo by Scott Lipiec
After a scoreless eight jam, Mean Streak gave the Pistoffs 10 points as Pistolwhipper jammer Meli Ali went to the penalty box...again (her fifth time), followed by a scoreless tenth jam.
Pistolwhipper blocker Boo D. Livers had been making penalties all through-out the bout, and in the eleventh jam, she made her seventh and fouled out of the game. She made a cheerful exit to the locker room as she waved goodbye to the crowd. I've never seen someone so happy to be ejected. Mean Streak took advantage of the absence of such a hard hitting blocker, and scored 15, keeping her team ahead at 127-84
Photo by Scott Lipiec
Jams twelve through sixteen involved more small scoring from both sides, with the point deficit not changing much. Cookie Rumble scored 10 unanswered points in the seventeenth jam, followed by Meli Ali firing back by scoring 10 unanswered points in the eighteenth and final jam. The Pistoffs achieved their first victory of the season, 145-104, and the MVP award went to Bruisie Siouxxx.
In the end it seemed as though the more consistent output of the Pistoffs helped them prevail. The Pistolwhippers were either making grand explosive plays, or being largely ineffective.
I was able to catch up with Captain Lazer Beam and Assistant Captain Diesel Doll for some postbout analysis:
The winning Captain of the Pistoffs also had some thoughts to share:Detroit Area Dork: What's your initial reaction to the bout?Lazer Beam: I'm really happy about it. We were definitely not...Diesel Dol: We were the underdog.Lazer Beam: Definitely the underdog. We came in, as the new kids on the block, I feel, and they didn't smoke us like I thought they were going to. They won, but we put up a good fight. I'm happy. Much happier this time than I was last time.Diesel Dol: We're down players right now. We've had some injuries on our team. Our girls really stepped up to the plate, and they played a lot. It was like every other jam. It was a lot of work, and I think everyone delivered tonight. I'm really proud of our team. We've been practicing a lot. We had some tough opponents tonight, but we know what our goals were, and I think we achieved them...other than the win.Detroit Area Dork: Do you think penalties played a big part in this bout?Lazer Beam: They always play a big part in our bouts.Diesel Dol: We have three leaders in penalties on our team. We definitely cut it down, we did better today, but we did have an ejection. We will be addressing that. Boo will have to do extra yard work or something.Detroit Area Dork: I don't think I've seen an ejection before in a game. Is this the first time it's happened?Lazer Beam: No, it happens on travel team. It happened last year.Diesel Dol: I don't remember who it was, but we've definitely had it here before.Lazer Beam: They had them for sure last year on travel team.Diesel Dol: Here's the rule of thumb with derby; if you're not getting penalties, you're not playing. A lot of the top players, I mean Cookie is in the box, it means they play a lot, they're putting a lot of gusto into their hits. Sometimes they throw an elbow, and they don't mean to.Lazer Beam: When you're playing three out of six lines like that, you're going to get tired. Your elbows are going to come out a bit, and they call it. I felt the refs did a good job tonight. I can't point to why we lost, because I thought we did good.Detroit Area Dork: What do you think you need to work on for your next bout?Lazer Beam: Maybe conditioning a little bit more, and staying within our walls a little bit better.Diesel Dol: And a lot of offensive playing too. The D-Funk are really good at holding their walls, and we just have to make sure we're giving a lot of offensive blocks. We've got some things up our sleeves for them, but we can't disclose that here for all the public to know.
Detroit Area Dork: What are you thoughts on the bout?Kraken Whips: I'm really glad we held it together. We held it together, we played strong. It was probably the best bout I've ever played in. I've never played the Pistolwhippers before, so it was pretty exciting.Detroit Area Dork: How do you think you were able to pull ahead?Kraken Whips: Our strong walls really helped us a lot. We shut down the other jammer a lot. We went all "D", because they have such fast jammers, because a lot of them are very agile. We kind of get nervous about them. We wanted to shut them down. It's better if no one score points, then if they get it on us. I think we played smart. We had a couple kerfuffle moments, but all in all, I think it was a great game.Detroit Area Dork: How do you think penalties affected the outcome?Kraken Whips: We were pretty dumb on penalties. A lot them were...kind of...I think some of them were miscalled, on both ends. I think I took a stupid one in the end. She tried to hit me, and I ended up back-blocking her. That was stupid one. I could have been racking up points instead of sitting in the box. But yeah, penalties were dumb, as always, and none of them were initiated. No one went out for a penalty. Although it probably could have helped us if we did.Detroit Area Dork: Does this feel good after losing by just one point in the last bout?Kraken Whips: Yes, it feels much better. Our team has been playing really well together recently at practice. It's been working like clockwork. I'm really glad the we proved it today, that we worked really hard and got all our shit back together. The first bout was a little intense. We had some arguments on the bench, and we never do that. So you knew it was not a good day for the Pistoffs. We had no arguments on the bench today, so it was good.Detroit Area Dork: What do you think the team needs to work on for the next bout?Kraken Whips: More offense, getting our jammers out. It's much easier to play defense, and it's much harder to pull offense off effectively. So I really want to start working on that. Start getting two people on offense to really break up the walls for our jammers.
Photos by Laura Marsh of Life In Still Photography,
and Scott Lipiec
Buy your tickets now for the next bout on February 4th, and see The Grand Prix Madonnas battle the Devil's Night Dames
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I'm a dork, I live in the Detroit area, and sometimes I take blurry photos on an outdated camera
