<p>MARTINSVILLE</p><p>The momentum from Whiteland’s first-round victory against No. 2 Center Grove last Wednesday didn’t carry through the weekend.</p><p>A pair of early two-run home runs from Franklin Central catcher Cade Fitzpatrick created a hole the Warriors couldn’t dig out of in a 7-0 semifinal loss at the Class 4A Martinsville Sectional on Monday morning.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery<p>Greenwood, the last remaining county team in the bracket, lost the second semifinal game to the host Artesians, 10-0.</p><p>The Warriors (17-10) gave up just one hit in the first inning of the opener, but it was a biggie. With two out and a runner on, Fitzpatrick took a Luke Helton delivery deep to give the Flashes a quick 2-0 edge. He added another two-run shot to straightaway center in the third to double that lead.</p><p>That was ample cushion for Franklin Central hurler Matt Hall, who was every bit as sharp Monday as he had been when fanning 14 in a first-round shutout victory over Franklin.</p><p>Hall didn’t allow a Whiteland hit until the fourth inning, and promptly got that runner erased on a double play. The only trouble he faced came in the bottom of the sixth, when the Warriors loaded the bases with one out but still came up empty.</p><p>Ryan Glithero and Lukas Cline had the only Whiteland hits against Hall, who struck out nine and walked three in six innings.</p><p>“I didn’t think we played terrible,” Whiteland coach Scott Sherry said. “We just, obviously, didn’t hit. You have two hits on the day, you’re not going to win very many games.”</p><p>Helton, who had pitched a two-hitter and struck out 17 against the Trojans last week, exited down 6-0 after five innings. The Flashes (12-16) tacked on a run against reliever Tyler Wick in the sixth.</p><p>The Warriors figure to look quite a bit different next spring, with 13 seniors graduating off of the current team.</p><p>“It’s going to be tough,” Sherry said. “Some of them are three- or four-year players. We’re just going to have a whole new lineup; I hope our young guys are paying attention.”</p><p>In the nightcap, Greenwood starter Oliver Rau came out strong before getting into trouble in the third. A leadoff walk, a bunt single and two errors allowed the Artesians to steal a pair of runs and grab the upper hand.</p><p>Martinsville (21-7) added runs in the fourth and sixth innings, both knocked in by catcher Andrew Payton, then blew it open with six more in the seventh after a 50-minute weather delay.</p><p>The Woodmen, meanwhile, struggled to make headway against Artesian hurler Michael Hoppel, who walked three in five innings but allowed just two hits, a third-inning base knock by Josh Rugenstein and an infield single by Cameron Crick in the fifth. Greenwood (2-22) didn’t get a runner to second base safely until the bottom of the seventh inning.</p><p>“I thought it was kind of a sum of our season,” Woodmen coach Andy Bass said. “Ten runs on four hits. Too many walks, too many hit by pitches, too many little errors where we don’t catch a ball, we don’t set our feet, or we bobble it and give up an extra base. And then we’ve got to hit the ball, and we haven’t done that.</p><p>“We’ve got a lot of work to do, but there’s talent there. The good news is you’ve only got four seniors; you’ve got a lot of young guys playing. … A lot of guys coming back, but they’ve got to get better.”</p>
