LEESVILLE – The game was close until the fifth inning.

And that is when the Leesville Lady Cats went to work.

Leesville closed out the regular season by scoring 10 runs over the final two innings of a 13-3 non-district win over the Hicks Lady Pirates on Thursday.

With the win, the Lady Cats secured a first-round Class 4A home playoff game, which will be at 5 p.m. Monday against Rayne. 

Hicks, which drew the No. 9 seed in the Class C playoffs, will travel to face Evans at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

The Lady Cats scored a run in the first and two more in the second inning to build a 3-0 advantage.

However, the Lady Pirates battled back to tie the game at 3-3 by scoring twice in the fourth and one in the top of the fifth.

But the Lady Cats scored four times in the bottom of the frame and ended the game with six in the sixth.

Layla Gamble was a homer short of the cycle, collecting three hits for the Lady Cats, scoring three times with an RBI. MacKenzie Waldrop and Amaya Thomas each had three hits. Waldrop added a double and a run scored, while Thomas had two runs scored and two RBIs.

Kaylee Robinson had two hits, including a home run, while Kathryn Keys added two hits and two RBIs.

Kassidy Busby suffered the loss in the circle despite going 2-for-3 at the plate. Dakota Poe added three hits, while Jozlyn Westfall finished with a double and an RBI.

This article originally appeared on Leesville Daily Leader: Lady Cats pull away from Hicks, 13-3