File photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm’s Berkley Wilfahrt runs to third during a Big South Conference softball game against Marshall on April 22 at New Ulm High School.

NEW ULM — For the second year in a row, the New Ulm Eagles will be looking to take the title of Big South Conference softball champions into the postseason.

After defeating Luverne in the Big South title game last season with a 10-4 win at home, the Eagles will have to travel to Jackson this year for the Big South Conference Softball Championship game when they play the Jackson County Central Huskies at 3 p.m. Saturday. Ticket prices for the big game are $7 per adult and $5 per student.

The Huskies carry an 18-2 record overall and 13-1 conference mark in the Big South Small Division into the title game with the Eagles, who are 15-3 overall and 11-1 in the Big South Big Division.

Eagles head coach Kristi Andersen Loose said four of her players have played with a handful of JCC players in the summer as part of the Minnesota Misfits, a fastpitch softball club.

“Ramsey [Hopp] and some of the other girls will have more insight to add to what we already do, which will certainly be helpful, but it doesn’t necessarily change the dynamics of anything that we normally do on a regular basis and the prep that we go into when we go against teams,” Andersen Loose said. “Some of the logistical things would happen — if we need to change defensive sets or handle a pitcher differently. With batting practice and hitting [Friday], we take different approaches [Friday] because of the pitching that we know that we’re going to face [Saturday] than we would when we play Mankato East or when we play Mankato West.”

Andersen Loose said that even with some of her players knowing what they can expect out of JCC, her team hasn’t had a chance to get together for a practice until Friday thanks to the rain canceling the Eagles’ home game Friday with Hastings.

“When we play nine games in a row without a practice, you can’t [prepare for one game], so we haven’t had the luxury of doing that lately,” she said. “So this is the first time in a very long time that we’ve actually had the ability to sit down and say, ‘OK, we’re going plan for one game.'”

JCC is ranked ninth in Class AA, while the Eagles are ranked third in Class AAA. Rankings and records aside, the Huskies are averaging 10.8 runs per game while allowing 1.7 runs per game.

“They can hit, they’re a solid hitting team and they hit the ball well,” Andersen Loose said.

The Eagles are averaging 8.2 runs per game while allowing 1.5 runs per game, spearheaded by ace senior pitcher Ramsey Hopp.

With the Huskies’ hitting prowess, a prowess that saw Cora Pauling and Bailey Finck each collect three hits Thursday to take down the Class A-ranked Wabasso Rabbits 12-1, Hopp may need her defense to be extra sharp if JCC hitters continue their trend.

The Eagles’ infield, which features Bridgette Roiger at first, Lauren Schmiesing at shortstop and Kenzie Enter at second, has recently seen a switch at third base with senior Berkley Wilfahrt returning to that spot to shore up that corner of the infield after playing last season there and starting this season behind the plate.

“Berkley’s a game changer in the infield for us,” Andersen Loose said. “She tightens up that corner and gives us some versatility and depth. … It was a smooth transition and just an automatic. She literally had one practice of, ‘Berkley, we’re going to do this, you’re jumping back in [at third]’. And she said, ‘I want you to hit me a ton of ground balls tomorrow and hit them hard at me.’ So she had one practice and she jumped right in and just really picked up exactly where she left off last year without a blip and has just been such a little lightning rod of energy out there.”

Andersen Loose also said Wilfahrt’s personality and energy has been good to have back with the rest of the infielders.

Meanwhile, sophomore Gracie Baker has donned the catcher’s mask behind the plate and held her own.

“Gracie’s an underclassman, she knew her spot, she knew her role and she knew what she could come in with,” Andersen Loose said. “We’ve got seven seniors on the field, a junior [Schmiesing] that, this is now her third year, and Gracie. And she’s the odd one out … she knew her place and she knew that her place wasn’t to lead the defense, it wasn’t her job. So she handled her space exactly how she should have when she was at third, but now being a catcher, it just feels more comfortable and it makes sense.

“It makes sense and it flows really, really well, and it’s OK to be kind of quiet and reserved and it’s just you and Ramsey working back there, whereas at third base, it just makes sense to have our little spark plug there with Berkley.”

As for the JCC pitching staff, sisters Madisyn Wachal and Hadley Wachal split time in the circle routinely for the Huskies.

Whatever Wachal takes the circle Saturday will have their own test with a New Ulm lineup that has routinely shown that no matter where someone is in the lineup, they have a good chance of getting on base.

“What I love about our lineup is that our one through nine, we have pops of power all over the place,” Andersen Loose said. “We kind of have a 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4-1 batting order. Gracie is kind of our nine hitter that we’ve got as kind of our next leadoff kid and she’s doing some really amazing things in the nine spot for us, she has a ton of RBIs because we get some kids on ahead of her, but she also does a really great job of being on base being ready for that top of the order to get us kick-started again.

“I like where we’re at. It’s a very non-traditional batting order, I’d say. Berkley is a five hitter for us and she doesn’t look the part of a five hitter when you see her. It’s very non-traditional, but it works, it works for us.”