Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm's Maddie Backer slides into third base during a nonconference softball game against New Prague Saturday at Caswell Park in North Mankato.

By Ari Selvey

aselvey@nujournal.com

NORTH MANKATO — New Ulm wrapped up the Mankato East Caswell Park softball tournament with an 8-2 win over New Prague, sealing a third-place finish.

“I think we played really well on defense,” New Ulm’s Kenzie Enter said. “When we made errors, we picked each other up, we kept going and just worked hard the whole time.”

New Ulm finished the tournament 2-1 and improved to 11-3 on the season.

“We know that we can hang with the big dogs,” Enter said. “We always work hard and we know we can do it.”

Ramsey Hopp earned the win for New Ulm, striking out seven while allowing two runs on four hits in five innings. Miley Flor pitched two scoreless innings, allowing two hits. At the plate for New Ulm, Enter was 2 for 4 with two RBIs and a run scored, while Maddie Backer had a hit, three stolen bases and three runs scored. Lauren Schmiesing added a hit and an RBI, while Gracie Baker had two steals and two runs scored.

New Prague took the first run of the game in the second inning, scoring a runner with two singles, but New Ulm bounced back with a big third inning. Baker walked to start the frame, then Backer reached on an error. Baker took home on a wild pitch, then Backer on another to take a 2-0 lead. Hopp singled to reach base, then pinch runner Hadley Batt stole second and third. Schmiesing put a ball into play, and Batt found herself in a rundown, but successfully made it back to third base. As Schmiesing advanced to second, Batt was able to take home as a throw was made to second base. Finally, Berkeley Wilfahrt singled to score Schmiesing and take a 4-1 lead.

New Ulm increased that to a 5-1 lead in the fourth as Backer reached on another error, stole second and third, then made it home on an error. New Prague cut in to the lead with a run in the bottom of the fifth, but New Ulm tacked on three runs in the sixth, with Baker reaching on an error, Backer singling, then both scoring on a single by Enter. Enter was then brought home on a single by Schmiesing to make it a 8-2 game.

Enter and Hopp were both named to the All-Tournament team after the game.

“It feels great,” Enter said. “It’s such a big tournament with so many good players, so to get that recognition is cool.”

New Ulm plays at Belle Plaine on Monday.