Kelly Shepard pitched 14 strikeouts and beat a throw home on the bags to lead the Bruins to its second win of the day, 1-0 over Rio Linda in the second round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Playoffs.

Katharyn Rabak hit a grounder to second base while Shepard raced home from third base, scoring the game's only run.

In the first game, all Bear River needed was one good inning.

The Bruins mustered four runs in the bottom of the first inning against Sierra en route to a 6-0 win in the first round.

Jenna Wermes, Kelly Shepard, Brooke Mosman and Tori Humbard provided RBI hits for Bear River in the first inning to lead the team. Shepard pitched the shutout.

Bear River (27-2) will play again Friday against East Union, which beat Whitney 2-0, in a rematch of last year's section championship.

Check out tomorrow's newspaper for a complete account of both of Wednesday's games.

<em>To contact Sports Editor Brian Hamilton, e-mail bhamilton@theunion.com or call 477-4240.</em>