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By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor

MONTEVALLO – It has been an up-and-down start to the 2023 baseball season for the Montevallo Bulldogs, but on Tuesday, March 21, they kicked off area play in a big way with a dominant shutout of Fultondale.

The Bulldogs needed just five innings to post 16 runs in a 16-0 shutout that gave them a win in their area opener.

Montevallo got off to a fast start with seven runs in the opening inning and never looked back from there.

Grayson Duckworth was able to work comfortably on the mound with the early cushion, and he went the distance in a complete-game shutout. Duckworth allowed just one hit and no walks or runs with nine total strikeouts.

That lone hit came in the top of the fifth inning to break up the no-hit attempt, but Duckworth polished off the inning with two strikeouts after and struck out batters for all three outs in the final inning of the victory.

Meanwhile, the offense struck quickly and often in the win, starting in the opening inning.

The Bulldogs put up seven runs with four singles, an error, two fielder’s choice plays, a hit batter, a walk and a sac fly.

Montevallo then added to that an inning later with two more runs on an RBI double from Duckworth and an RBI single from Zachary Shores.

Already up 9-0, an error in the bottom of the third allowed another run to score, making it 10-0.

The final blow, however, came in the bottom of the fourth with the team’s second-biggest inning of the night.

A single and back-to-back triples from Braden Douglas and Kemp Swords quickly made it 12-0, and that was just the beginning. From there, two hit batters, two walks, an RBI single and a sac fly led to the final four runs crossing the plate in the 16-0 victory.

The Bulldogs were led by Swords with three hits, while he also posted two RBIs. Charlie Adams and Ethan Juarez both finished with three RBIs with Adams totaling two hits and Juarez one.

Shores also finished with two hits, while Douglas added two RBIs on one hit. Keiston Ross had he only other RBI with one on one hit.