Back at Trackside

Having missed the last home bout, I was suffering some derby withdrawal symptoms. Fortunately, last night’s exciting bout between the Morristown Corporal Punishers and the Backyard Bullies visiting from Westchester County satisfied thoroughly.

In an opening power jam #60 Leggy Fleming, assisted by well-coordinated blocking by her team-members, put 23 points on the board for the Bullies. Bullies jammer #33 Force Majuere then showed her name was well-chosen (if idiosyncratically spelled), powering through Punishers blocking by force majeure. At the end of only two jams the Bullies led 44 -14.  It had the look of a runaway night for the Bullies. The look was deceiving. Punishers jams by #22 Apocelyse, #8 Lil Mo Peep, and #3684 CaliforniKate filled in the gap. #1 LL Kill J put the Punishers into the lead 77-70 at 15 minutes into the first half. The lead then see-sawed, with the first half ending with Bullies in a slim 104 – 99 lead.

At the opening of the second half it was anyone’s game. Power jams, notably one by #451 Tear’n’Fight, and very effective blocking by the Bullies opened up a sizable lead, but once again the Punishers clawed back to a threatening position at 127 to the Bullies’ 139. The Bullies pushed back; they were able to exploit power jams and build solid blocking walls and thereby re-open their lead. Punishers blocking stiffened, taking down #33 Force Majuere hard at one point. Doom Hilda and Beast Witherspoon notably checked Bullies jammers at key moments. It wasn’t enough. Redoubled efforts by the Bullies showed up on the score board, as the whistle blew with a final score of 219 – 153 in favor of the Bullies.

MVPs:

For Corporal Punishers – Beast Witherspoon as blocker, Apocelyse as jammer

For Backyard Bullies – Leggy Fleming as blocker, Mz. AfterMath as jammer