The Poplar Bluff Lady Mules softball team entered Thursday’s contest with the Sikeston Bulldogs needing a bounce-back game after losing three in a row.

Mission accomplished.

The Lady Mules scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning and never trailed again, pounding out 12 hits on the way to a 12-5 win at Strenfel Field Thursday afternoon.

“It’s just sometimes it’s a roller coaster,” Poplar Bluff head coach Aaron Duncan said. “You have ups and downs. We talk about that there’s days where you get better, there’s days where you plateau, and there’s days where it’s not so good — and that’s just the nature of the game. We’ve just got to play through it and just grow. We’re young, and we’ve just got to grow daily and get better.”

After Sikeston scored twice in the top of the first inning, the Lady Mules’ offense went to work in the bottom half of the first. Starting pitcher Molly Eason’s bunt single plated Elizabeth Blancett to immediately cut the deficit in half, then Addison Valenzuela scored the tying run on Lilly Johnson’s fielder’s choice.

Two batters later, Eason scored the go-ahead run on another fielder’s choice, this one from Lillian Mueller, making it 3-2 in favor of Poplar Bluff. Johnson then capped the rally by scoring on an error.

“That’s what we needed to do,” Duncan said. “We needed to start out strong, put some runs across the plate, get up in the box and have confidence — and get a pitch and hit it. The girls did that today, so that was a good, positive move in the right direction.”

The Lady Mules (5-6) got another big inning in the bottom of the fourth to break the game open. After Kyleigh Edmundson opened the rally by singling home Valenzuela to make it 6-2, Audrey Cato hit a three-run double to chase home Edmundson, Mueller and Mary Adams and push the lead to 9-2.

Sikeston did not give up, scoring three runs in the top of the fifth inning to cut the lead to 9-5. However, Duncan brought in Valenzuela to close out the game — and she did just that, tossing two innings of scoreless, hitless relief to help preserve the win for Eason and the Lady Mules.

“Addison hasn’t thrown a lot,” Duncan said. “But it was like, ‘let’s give her a chance to go in there.’ … She’s good at getting out of spots, and she’s pretty competitive in a game — so it was good for her to get in there and just get some experience in those last two innings.”

Eason had three hits on the day, while Adams, Edmundson and Valenzuela each had a pair. Cato drove in three runs, while Edmundson drove in a pair.

The Lady Mules are back in action Monday at Farmington.