ALEXANDRIA, La. — The Alexandria Dixie Debs opened up with an early 4-0 lead, and the Ferriday Gators were unable to mount any offense en route to an 11-1 loss Sunday night.

The game moved the Gators into the loser’s bracket at the Dixie Debs World Series. Ferriday will face the Georgia Dixie Debs at 6 p.m. today.

Mollie Devening took the loss, yielding 11 runs on 13 hits with four walks and three strikeouts. The game was called after five innings because of the 10-runs-after-five mercy rule.

“We ran into a good Alexandria team,” Gators head coach Rut Horne said. “In the first inning, they were up 4-0, and we were pretty much scrambling from behind the whole game trying to get something going. You have to give them credit — they had 11 batters, and all 11 could hit.”

Ferriday’s only run on the game came off a home run by Devening. No one for the Gators had multiple hits.

Horne said he left Devening in despite her struggles so that he would have his other pitchers fresh the rest of the way.

“I probably would have swapped pitchers, but we were down 4-0 in the first, so I wasn’t really keen on burning another pitcher and still coming up short,” Horne said. “(Alexandria is) not going to give you a bunch of runs. We’ll have to keep it a one- or two-run game, because their pitching is pretty good.”

With the Gators facing elimination, Horne said he expects his team to still have a shot at a rematch with Alexandria.

“This is the same group that came through the loser’s bracket in one tournament before,” Horne said. “But we’ve got a hill to climb. That’s a very good team, and I’d sure like another shot at them.”