IMPERIAL, Mo. -- For a second year the Poplar Bluff softball team was stuck on 21 wins after a 3-2 loss in the MSHSAA Class 4 District 1 semifinal.
Defending champion Seckman scored three times in the sixth Thursday, rallying past the Mules with three straight extra-base hits.
Poplar Bluff finished 21-8.
"We had some hits but once again they weren't the timely hits," Mules coach Lisa Boyer said.
It was the final game for seniors Keaira Benton, Jordyn Caldwell, Calli Gerber, Shelby Sievers and Adrienne Stukcer that helped Poplar Bluff win 77 games.
"Great group," Boyer said. "They're definitely going to be missed. It's going to be hard to fill their shoes for sure."
Seckman (14-10) will face top-seeded Oakville (23-4), which beat Jackson 11-0, in a rematch of last year's final after the Tigers ended Poplar Bluff's 21-4 season.
The Mules led 2-0 until the top of the sixth when Taylor Duff led off with a double down the left-field line and Shelby Salger followed with a double into the right-field gap. Megan McCorkell tied it with a triple and scored on Kamryn Sloan's groundout to the second baseman.
Stucker had given up just three hits in the first five innings. The senior struck out four and didn't walk a batter in five-plus innings.
"I don't know if she was getting a little tired, wasn't getting the spin on the ball like she had been in the beginning," Boyer said. "I felt like her riseball in the beginning was very effective. Her change-up was good."
Caldwell threw out a tying run at the plate for a inning-ending double play in the third but was robbed of an RBI twice. After the Mules added to their lead in the fourth, the senior lined out to the second baseman with the bases loaded to end the inning. Her line out to the shortstop in the sixth came with two on before a groundout ended Poplar Bluff's last-chance rally.
"Just a little bit one way or the other it would have been through and we would have scored a couple of runs on that but it happened to be right to her," Boyer said of the fourth inning.
Sievers was hit by a pitch in the fourth before Brylee Misner's single. Seckman threw out the lead runner on Stucker's bunt but Gerber loaded the bases with a hit. Misner scored on a fielder's choice grounder hit by Lauren Alexander and Emma Johnson walked on five pitches to load the bases for Caldwell.
Poplar Bluff, the second seed, jumped ahead in the bottom of the first when Abby Gregory singled through the left side and reached second on an error and third on a groundout. The junior sprinted home on a passed ball.
Seckman's Bailey Kohrhammer struck out four, walked three and allowed six hits.
Poplar Bluff stranded eight runners on base.
"We hit the ball hard but it seemed like everything was right to them," Boyer said.
The loss was Poplar Bluff's third straight, the longest losing streak since 2014. The Mules were playing for just the four time in 19 days.
"I'm questioning why we're not hitting the ball toward the end of the season when you feel like you should be hitting the ball better at that time," Boyer said. "...I'm thinking we need to look at our schedule a little bit and try to play a little bit more toward the end of the season."
Sievers ended her career with seven team hitting records and a .445 career average with a 32-10 record pitching. Gerber, also a four-year starter, hit .375 this season. Caldwell anchored right field and the No. 9 spot in the order with a .286 average and 20 runs. Stucker hit .382 this fall and went 32-6 in 59 career appearances in the circle, striking out 350 to 52 walks with a 2.14 earned-run average.