MONROE, La. — After scoring just one run in each of the first three innings, the Ferriday Gators used some offensive fireworks of their own this Fourth of July weekend to break open a close game.

Ferriday scored seven runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 10-2 lead and Kennedy Beard’s two-run double an inning later allowed the Gators to defeat East Ouachita 12-1 in five innings Saturday afternoon at the Dixie Debs District Tournament.

“We started very slowly. Then we had a couple of big innings,” Ferriday head coach Rut Horne said. “We had some hard hit balls that their defense made some really good plays on early in the game. But about the fourth inning we batted around. It was just a matter of time before our big sticks got going.”

East Ouachita scored the game’s first run in the top of the first inning off Gators starting pitcher Laura Perilloux. The host team for this tournament didn’t score another run the rest of the game.

Perilloux and relief pitcher Mollie Devening combined on a six-hitter with five strikeouts and just one walk. Perilloux was the winning pitcher after allowing five hits and one walk to go along with two strikeouts in three innings. Devening went the final two innings and gave up just one hit, walked none and struck out three.

“They did good. Laura did good in her three innings. The mound bothered her a little bit. She got behind in the count some. The mound didn’t bother Mollie as much as it did Laura,” Horne said. “I was probably going to go with Marty Lewis for an inning or two if the game went any longer. Our closer is Ellen Bairnsfather. We didn’t get to her. We didn’t get to Marty because the game was called.”

And the defense behind the two pitchers was outstanding as the Gators didn’t commit a single error. The same, however, could not be said for East Ouachita as it committed five errors.

“We turned a couple of double plays that helped. Kimble Devening, our catcher, threw out a base runner,” Horne said.

Ferriday racked up 14 hits in the game, with six players collecting two hits each. Perilloux, Devening, Jody Duncan and Payton Monticello each went 2-for-3. Beard and Bairnsfather both were 2-for-4. Ginny Daggett had an RBI triple in the bottom of the third inning that put the Gators ahead 3-1 before they got things going in the final two innings.

“Our base running was very aggressive. We had quite a few steals tonight. We didn’t get caught stealing once,” Horne said.

The Gators next play at 7 p.m. against the winner of the Delhi/Winnsboro game.