McKINNEY – Mesquite Poteet junior pitcher Bradie Baker's moment of truth came in the fifth inning when McKinney North's Kathy Shelton reached on a one-out single to right Thursday.

With Poteet clinging to a one-run lead in Game 1 of their best-of-3 Class 4A regional quarterfinal, keeping the speedy Shelton at bay was a priority. Shelton was left stranded at first when Baker struck out the next two batters as Poteet held on for a 2-1 victory.

"She's deadly when she gets on base," Baker said of Shelton. "I just had to make the [next] batters try to hit my pitches."

Poteet (34-4) and McKinney North (24-7-2) play Game 2 at 7:30 tonight at Wylie.

It wasn't a shutdown pitching masterpiece by Baker, but she came up big when her team needed it. She allowed five hits, struck out six and gave up one unearned run. Baker worked out of jams in the fourth and six innings after allowing the leadoff batter to reach.

"She's done that all year," Poteet coach Mitzi Cook said of Baker. "She just battles and finds a way within herself."

McKinney North took a 1-0 lead when Sarah Becker's infield single scored Amy Kilpatrick. Poteet scored twice in the third inning on Jordan Hartsell's sacrifice fly to center field that scored Erin Black and a single by Baker that scored Kersti Rowan.