MONROE, La. — The Ferriday Gators are chomping at the bit to get that World Series win, and long-time head coach Rut Horne believes this year’s squad can get the job done.

For the first time in his 15 years of coaching the Gators, Ferriday will enter the World Series with an undefeated record. Because of his deep pitching staff and .384 team batting average, Horne believes his team will be the favorite to win it all.

“I like our chances,” Horne said. “We’ve played Alexandria four times this year, and we’ve beat them all four times. Now this is the team that won the World Series last year. They lost their pitcher, who beat us in the finals in the World Series two years ago.”

The Ferriday Gators are coming off of a Dixie Debs State Tournament win against Alexandria, where the bats were hot and the pitching was relentless. In the state tournament, Taylor Rodgers and Brianna Henson batted over .500. Tali Beard, Emilee Howard, Paige Bryan and Bailey Book each batted over .400 for the Gators in the tournament.

Rodgers, a graduate from Vidalia High School who was named the 2015 All-Metro Softball Player of the Year, said she’s been able to make up for getting behind in the count this summer.

“People complain that I get too low in the count, but I’m just getting used to seeing where the ball is and where I need to hit it,” Rodgers said. “Coach Horne knows that’s how I bat, though.”

Along with her .500 batting average, Rodgers has been one of many dominant pitchers on the Gators. Rodgers, Marty Lewis, Paige Bryan, Emilee Howard and Bailey Book pitched a combined 32 innings in the state tournament and gave up only three runs.

Horne said he has the deepest pitching staff he’s ever had.

“By far the deepest,” Horne said. “We’ve always had four, but I guarantee you we have seven girls who can pitch now. To tell you how good it was, we walked one batter in five games in the state tournament.”

Rodgers said that depth would come in handy at the World Series, which begins today with Ferriday taking on Mississippi at 6 p.m. in Monroe.

“Because we have so many, we can trade out,” Rodgers said. “Everybody knows it’s hard to get used to another pitcher.”

It came in handy in the state tournament against Alexandria, a team that Horne said had Ferriday’s number in recent years.

Bryan and Lewis combined for six strikeouts in the 4-1 win to secure the state tournament title. Bryan, who is in her fifth year with the Gators, said the win felt like a weight lifted off of her shoulders.

“It felt like we won the World Series,” Bryan said. “It was such a relief. I think if we can beat them, we can beat pretty much anybody.”

The expectations are high for the Ferriday Gators, and that’s just the way they like it.

“I’m expecting we’ll get pretty far,” Rodgers said.