Poplar Bluff second baseman Haley Bishop catches a popup Wednesday afternoon against Doniphan at Bacon Park. (Alex Abate/DAR) [Click to enlarge]

The Poplar Bluff Lady Mules needed a rally Wednesday afternoon and they got one, scoring a run in the fifth and another in the bottom of the seventh to beat Doniphan, 3-2.

"That one bad inning, today it was better," Poplar Bluff coach Dusty Benson said. "Our one bad inning only allowed one run a piece instead of four or five as it has in the past."

With the scored tied at 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh, Meagan Stucker singled in the hole to short and moved up on a passed ball to Brandy Perry, who later grounded out to third but the contact moved Stucker to third.

Jerica Wawak hit a grounder to third and Katelynn Murray checked Stucker and threw to first but no one was there and Stucker scored to give the Lady Mules (9-7) the win.

"I told Meagan (Stucker) to make sure it got through the infield before she went or to make sure she threw to first, she froze like she was supposed to," Benson said. "The third baseman hesitated and then she threw it and then it got away and (Stucker) went in to score, it worked out good for us."

With the score tied at two in the sixth, Doniphan's (6-6) Christin Ivy doubled to deep left field but was tagged out on a relay from shortstop Breanna Moore to third baseman Hailey Foust.

"Breanna, anytime you get the ball in her hands, good things can happen," Benson said. "She has got such a good arm."

The play was as big for the Lady Mules as it was for the Donettes.

"After that play, Jan Smith gets a hit," Doniphan coach Brad Phillips said. "Christin got a great hit, just bang-bang great relay play."

The Lady Mules got on the board first with a run in the second before the Donettes took a 2-1 lead in the fourth thanks in part to a Poplar Bluff throwing error.

Perry pitched well on the mound for Poplar Bluff, striking out two while Mary Beth Cosgrove located well in the loss.

"The last two games, she has been putting the ball in great places," Phillips said. "She has really kept us in games."

VOLLEYBALL: The Lady Mules dropped a match to Bell City on Wednesday, 25-15, 25-18.

"(We) started off slow in game one," Poplar Bluff coach Mike Berry said. "(We) dug a hole we couldn't get out of. Game two, we played with them very tight until the last few points."

Jamie Fritts had five kills and nine digs to lead Poplar Bluff and Blake Talkington added nine digs. Berry has seen some improvements in the season so far.

"Overall, passing is much improved over last year," Berry said. "We need to start placing the ball better."

CROSS COUNTRY: The Van Buren cross country teams both finished second behind host Alton in a meet Wednesday as the boys squad totaled 71 and the girls earned 66.

Dan Newberry finished fifth overall with a time of 19:16 and Michaela Smith was sixth in the girls race with a time of 25:23.

Nathan Morgan finished eighth with a time of 19:37, Zane Betz was 12th at 20:07, Dalton Williams was 16th at 20:37 and Kenny Gibbs was 30th at 21:41.

"Out of those five (boys), three are freshman, I was pretty pleasantly surprised with the finish there," Van Buren coach Randal Jenkins said.

Denise Haberl was ninth with a time of 26:02, Grace Betz was 13th with a time of 26:31, Courtney Swift was 15th with a time of 26:42 and Kyra Zimmer was 23rd with a time of 28:23.