The 1st jam of the bout had Racer McChaser out-skate Muffy Mafioso with a grand slam (she lapped the other jammer), 9 points to 0. Anomaly scored another 5 for the Madonnas in the second jam. The Dames finally shot back in the 3rd, when Feta Sleaze made a grand slam of her own and, and scored 12. The 4th jam saw a few points for each team, and the Madonnas led 17-14. The Dames' defense were having an impact, and it was looking like this bout could go either way. Racer scored 9 in the 5th, as Yo-yo gave her team 4.
Anomaly made a big 13 point play against the Dames' 4. Doom Shakalaka would go the penalty box in the 6th jam after scoring 4, leaving her team without a jammer as Racer would skate for 17. At 56-22, the lead was widening. Jams 8 through 11 saw smaller scoring additions, but still had the Madonnas ahead 63-29. Racer would dominate the twelfth jam as Doom went to the box again, scoring 10. A few more smaller plays in jams 13 through 15 left the score at 81-31.
In the 16th jam, a series of Grand Prix Madonnas blockers tried one after the other to knock Anomaly down. The were sliding into her like baseball players, trying to take her legs out. Swift Justice succeeded where her teammates failed, giving Anomaly a nasty take-down. The refs took an official time out to debate what they saw. One of the refs even reenacted the sliding maneuver, and they all decided it deserved a major penalty. Amidst all the leg sweep attempts, Muffy Mafioso was able to score 4 for the Dames.
Racer McChaser reached 1000 career points when she scored 9 in the 17th. She's the first skater in the league to reach that milestone. Lily I. Monster followed that up with a huge play for GPM, making a grand slam and scoring 15. Muffy Mafioso would give the Dames 4 in the last jam of the half, and making the score 105-39 in favor of GPM.
The 2nd half started with some smaller score additions for the first three jams to put it at 113-43. Even though jammer Racer McChaser went to the box in the 4th jam, she managed to score 9, to Muffy's 2. Over the next three jams the Madonnas would shut out the Dames as they added a combined 10 points. One nearby onlooker was heard saying "The Dames just can't be past the wall of checkered butts".
Formosa Fury gave the Dames 3 points in the 8th, as her teammates were able to stifle the Madonna's Cali Ente. Several Dames' blockers went to the box in the 9th, allowing Anomaly to score an unanswered 10. The 10th jam was scoreless, but Racer put another 15 on the board in the 11th to make the score 157-48. Feta gave the Dames 3 in the following jam, which was then followed the Dames' biggest play of the night. Muffy Mafioso scored 13 unanswered points, while the Dames' blockers shut down Lily I. Monster.
The Dames' weren't able to build on that big play, and they got shut out for the next 5 jams, as the Madonnas made the score 175-63. The Dames would go on to score another 4, and Racer would add a whopping 20 unanswered points in the final jam, making a final score of 20. Racer scored a total of 112 points for the bout, setting another new league record. She was a natural choice for MVP.
The Grand Prix Madonnas were able to show that they have the most disciplined defense. Their blocker walls seemed to be tightest and most effective. The Dames were able to double their scoring from their previous bout, but the improvement wasn't enough. The defense had good moments, but it usually didn't involve wall formations. It was more like blockers would take their turn one by one, and try to frustrate the opposing jammer.
I was able to get a few remarks from Dames Captain Yo-yo after the bout:
Detroit Area Dork: How would you compare this bout to the last one your team played?
Yo-yo: I think our team is improving with every game. We came out with more intensity and drive. We were more aggressive on the track and made a point to start hitting as soon as the jam would start. We still need to work on breaking up are opponents walls and keeping our defensive walls together/tighter.
Detroit Area Dork: Do you think the Grand Prix Madonnas played differently than their normal style?
Yo-yo: I think that GPM played like they always do, they have a strong defense and usually one offensive player to help out their jammer. Their rookie jammers are also proving to be very successful.
Detroit Area Dork: I don't think I've seen the tactic of intentionally taking a fourth minor to clear out the tally before. Was this commonly done before in DDG?
Yo-yo: Intentionally taking a 4th minor has been done in DDG quite a bit in the past. The tactic is mostly used for jammers. You don't want to send a jammer out to with 3 minors, its a big risk to take. If that jammer were to pick up a 4th minor, a power jam can change the score drastically. So its best to clear the minors out and they can jam with a fresh slate.
All photos taken by Scott Lipiec
This written post by:
I'm a dork, I live in the Detroit area, and sometimes I take blurry photos on an outdated camera
