Tuscaloosa opened the Dixie Majors State Baseball Tournament by showing it might be the favorite to win it all, while Selma showed it’s got an uphill battle ahead.

Selma’s All-Stars could muster only five hits, while Tuscaloosa knocked the ball all around Bloch Park in a 14-0 victory.

“I think we had like six walks, and you can’t walk that many and expect to win ballgames,” said Selma head coach Scott Gunter. “We hit the ball, but we hit it right at somebody. We only had two strikeouts and when we hit the ball we hit it right at somebody. They were just the better team tonight. That’s part of baseball.”

Tuscaloosa had three runs in the first inning off of Selma starting pitcher Keyshawn Ford. Dalton Reach and KeWayne McCray singled to make it 2-0 Tuscaloosa. A sacrifice fly Brylen Pate added a third run and Tuscaloosa was off and running.

Ford was subbed out after walking Adam Bonner to begin the second inning.

“Keyshawn Ford is usually top notch, one of the best pitchers I’ve seen pitch here in years,” Gunter said. “I think he walked four or three and hit one. I haven’t seen him do that in the last two years.”

Tuscaloosa scored four runs in the second inning, with a 2-RBI double by Reach highlighting the inning. Pate also had a run-scoring triple, which stretched the lead to 7-0.

Meanwhile, Selma was sputtering at the plate.

Tuscaloosa’s Justin Smith allowed only one hit in the first inning and then forced three ground outs in an extremely quick second inning.

Tuscaloosa failed to score in the third and in the bottom half of the inning Selma had a chance to get back into the game. A single by Jalen Furlow put runners on first and second, but Adam Seele grounded out to end the inning.

In the fourth, Trey Powe relieved Alex Davis on the mound for Selma. A scary moment occurred when a ball was hit right at Powe’s chest, but he was able to continue pitching after being examined by coaches.

It didn’t seem to matter who was throwing the ball at Tuscaloosa anyways.

The Thunder scored three times in the fourth and four more in the fifth to take a 14-0 lead.

When Selma couldn’t pull within ten after five innings, the 10-run forfeit rule ended the game.

Gunter said his team has to regroup and find a way to get the bats going Friday when Selma takes on Opp at 4:30 p.m. in an elimination game. Opp lost to East Montgomery 3-1 in the first game Thursday.

“We’ve got to try something different,” Gunter said. “We might try to bunt some tomorrow and get something going. We’ve got to get something going. We hit the ball good, we just didn’t hit it in the right spot. It just wasn’t our night.”