Before the Wayne County Lady Yellow Jackets traveled three hours north for their matchup with Evans in the first round of playoffs on Tuesday, the folks in Jesup, Ga., had heard about the potential dominance of Lady Knights pitcher Jenny Shepherd.

If they didn't believe the hype before, they do now.

Shepherd was masterful in two shutout victories during a marathon tripleheader, ousting Wayne County in the best of three series, 2-1.

Evans, champions of Region 3-AAAA, heads to the second round of the Class AAAA South Sectional.

The senior, who admitted afterwards that she was nervous going into Game 1, appeared to be anything but timid on the mound, fanning a combined 21 batters in Game 1 and Game 3, both 3-0 victories.

"I was a little nervous coming back from my knee surgery, but it felt good tonight. That pumped me up and I was pumped up knowing that we had a chance to move on in the state," said Shepherd, who was an All-State selection in 2008.

Because of the threat of rain this afternoon, the series which was originally scheduled to be a doubleheader Tuesday and a third game, if necessary today, turned into a tripleheader when Wayne County (11-10), the fourth seed out of Region 2-AAAA, avoided a sweep with a 2-0 victory in Game 2.

In the first game, Shepherd struck out nine and also drove in the first run on a sacrifice fly in the first inning, scoring Savanna Gladue.

In Game 2, Wayne County starting pitcher Natalie Manning almost single-handedly kept the Lady Yellow Jackets alive, pitching seven shutout innings and driving in the only runs of the victory with a two-run homer off Evans starter Brooke Sarver in the first.

In the nightcap, Shepherd returned to the hill to strike out 12. She finished the game by sitting down 14 of the last 15 batters she faced.

Juniors Kristin Hampson and Kayla Cates each had RBI singles.

The Lady Knights (24-7-1) move on to play the winner of the series between Alcovy-Thomas County Central at home beginning Friday.

"I'm pretty confident about our team right now, but we've got to keep getting better and better, which we are. We've got a really solid group," said Evans coach Colette Cassedy.