Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm High School’s Miranda Suess singles in a run during the Eagles’ home Section 2AA playoff game with Blue Earth Area on Thursday.

NEW ULM — Behind Ramsey Hopp’s four-inning masterpiece and plenty of offense to go around, top-seeded New Ulm cruised to a 15-0 win over No. 9-seeded Blue Earth Area on Thursday in a second-round Section 2AA softball playoff game.

Hopp struck out 10 and had a perfect four-inning performance before the Eagles’ offense ended things in the bottom of the fourth with a five-run inning.

She struck out the side in the first, second and fourth innings. In the third inning, BEA started the inning with back-to-back bunts for outs before a strikeout ended the inning.

“We stayed outside [the plate] most of the game because some of their hitters were further off the plate,” Hopp said. “And just mixing up with changeups once in a while, getting them to chase high.”

The Eagles entered Thursday’s playoff game coming off a loss at home to St. James Area in the Big South Conference title game. But Hopp and the Eagles didn’t let that loss weigh on them in any way against the Buccaneers.

“We kind of moved of moved on from that [loss],” Hopp said. “We had to bounce back to stay in the winner’s bracket for Saturday and put us in good position for the rest of the tournament.”

Kylee Eckmann took the loss for the Bucs, who also had trouble in the field with four errors.

After Maddi O’Connor walked to lead off the first, Eckmann collected consecutive strikeouts before Emma Brudelie tripled to right-center field to score O’Connor for a 1-0 lead after one.

The Eagles scored four more runs in the second inning, getting RBI singles from Anna Lee and Miranda Suess to lead the way. In the third inning, the Eagles jumped on the Bucs for five more runs and a 10-0 lead.

In that third inning, Amber Lee had a leadoff triple to right-center. The Eagles scored in that inning on a fielder’s choice by Gracie Linbo, an RBI by Anna Lee, a wild pitch and a throwing error.

New Ulm ended things early in the fourth, with a two-run double by Madeline Backer highlighting the inning and an RBI single by Hopp ending the game.

Anna Lee led the Eagles at the plate, going 2 for 3 with two RBIs and three runs scored. Kenzie Enter also tripled for the Eagles.

The Eagles now turn their attention to No. 5-seeded Belle Plaine, who they will play at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Caswell Park in a winner’s bracket playoff game. Belle Plaine defeated fourth-seeded SJA 1-0 on Thursday.

Win or lose that game, the Eagles will have another game at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Caswell Park.