Friday night, his team ran out of gas merging onto the Lady Comanche freeway as Shiner beat Iola 11-1 in six innings to take Game 1 of the best-of-3 Class A regional quarterfinal series at Alumni Field.

The teams return to Alumni Field for Game 2 at 1 p.m. Saturday with Game 3 to follow if necessary.

"We came out jittery," Masters said. "We've got to come out and play to our potential. We were a little in awe of Shiner. That's just something we need to get over as a team. I'm proud of the girls because they played hard. If we do that, we'll come out tomorrow and win this series."

Shiner starting pitcher Heather Haas recorded the first 11 outs by strikeout and finished with 13. She gave up four hits, one unearned run and did not issue a walk.

As dominant as Haas was, especially with her rise ball, Iola batters began hitting her pitches as the game wore on. Haas struck out seven straight batters entering the fourth inning, but Iola managed to get three hits the rest of the way, including a double by Hillary Trant in the sixth.

"She can throw her rise ball at either 50 mph or at 65 mph," Masters said. "She can really come back and bring it. The main thing is to see the ball as soon as it comes out of her hand. Only thing you can do with a rise ball is pop it up unless you get your hands above it. Our girls did adjust to that, and I'm proud of them for it. I told the girls I wouldn't trade them for the world because they did make adjustments and they did play hard."

Iola leadoff hitters Erin Compian reached base two of her three trips to the plate, both times on errors. Compian also stole a base and scored her team's only run. Catcher Hannah Pointer drove in Compian in the first inning on a two-out single to left field.

Iola threatened to score in both the fourth and fifth innings, getting a runner in scoring position with less than two outs both times. Both times, Haas ended the inning with a popup to the pitcher.

The Lady Bulldogs also scored a minor victory by actually getting an umpire's call reversed in the bottom of the fifth inning. Masters argued successfully that Shiner's first baseman bobbled the ball in falling to the ground on her stretch to catch an inning-ending throw on a grounder. After an out was called, both teams went into their dugouts, but both had players with batting helmets on as the umpires deliberated over the call and ultimately reversed the call.

In the other pitcher's circle, Iola's Kelseigh Braaton also pitched a complete game, but struggled to get through the third and sixth innings. Braaton started the game by retiring seven of the first nine batters she faced and getting first pitch strikes on all but one batter heading into the third frame.

That's when Braaton's control left her temporarily. Shiner sent 10 batters to the plate in the third and Braaton missed on her first pitch with six of the ten batters. However, two of the remaining batters hit triples on her second and first pitches, respectively.

Braaton was able to pull it together for the next two innings before walking the first two batters in the sixth and giving up four more runs. The junior threw more pitches in the third and sixth than the other four innings combined.

"Kelseigh got frustrated," Masters said. "She's still young, but that shows how much maturity she does has. I think tomorrow she's going to know Shiner's tendencies better, and I hope we'll see a different Lady Bulldogs team tomorrow."

Shiner 11, Iola 1, 6 innings

Shiner 006 104 - 11 10 2

Iola 100 000 - 1 4 2

Heather Haas and Holly Haas; Kelseigh Braaton and Hannah Pointer.

W - Haas. L - Braaton.

Leading hitters: IOLA - Compian 0-3, SB, R; Braaton 1-3, SB; Pointer 1-3, RBI; Hillary Trant 1-3, 2B.