In 2020-21, Southeast Missouri won its first-ever Ohio Valley Conference Commissioner's Cup, the league's ultimate symbol of overall athletic excellence in Conference-sponsored championships.
 
While competing in the middle of a COVID-19 pandemic, the Redhawks celebrated a dominating spring season bolstered by first-place finishes in women's tennis, women's track & field, softball and baseball, and a second-place finish in men's track & field. SEMO also posted third-place finishes in women's basketball, soccer and volleyball. The Redhawks accumulated 119 points, 7.5 points ahead of second-place Belmont (111.5) to claim this year's OVC Commissioner's Cup.
 
Throughout the summer, we'll take a closer look at the most successful year in SEMO Athletics Division I history.
 
Softball // Notes 

• Southeast Missouri won its second-straight Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title and claimed the top seed in the OVC Tournament in 2021.
 
• The Redhawks finished with an overall record of 30-17 and 23-6 in OVC play.
 
• SEMO broke a program record with 23 OVC wins. That surpassed the previous mark of 22 conference victories by both the 1995 (22-4) and 1996 (22-2) teams.
 
• The Redhawks won 30 or more games for the third year in a row and 18th all-time in program history.
 
• SEMO put together 12-game winning streak in OVC games. That winning streak was the longest in the conference in 2021. The conference winning streak was also SEMO's longest since the Redhawks won 13-straight games in 2009.
 
• The Redhawks led the OVC in on-base percentage (.369), opposing batting average (.213), batters struck out looking (69), saves (8), fewest hits allowed (247), fewest runs allowed (139) and fewest earned runs allowed (121). SEMO ranked second among league teams in batting average (.289), slugging percentage (.474), hits (359), home runs (54), total bases (590), walks (141), earned run average (2.76), batters struck out (285) and wins (30).
 
• Nationally, SEMO rated among the top 45 teams in strikeout-to-walk ratio (29th, 3.24), home runs per game (35th, 1.15), shutouts (37th, 12) and slugging percentage (42nd, .474).
 
• The Redhawks were involved in 14 shutouts during the 2021 campaign. SEMO went 12-2 in those instances.

• Mark Redburn was named OVC Coach of the Year and Rachel Rook was tabbed OVC Pitcher of the Year to headline SEMO's All-Conference awards. Redburn claimed the honor for the second-straight year, while Rook became only the second player in program history to win OVC Pitcher of the Year.
 
• First baseman Ashley Ellis and center fielder Rachel Anderson joined Rachel Rook as First-Team All-OVC selections. Freshmen Jillian Anderson and Katie Dreiling each landed a spot on the league's All-Newcomer Team.
 
• Mark Redburn has led SEMO to an overall record of 121-60 (.669) and 55-18 in OVC play since the 2018 season. In 2021, the Redhawks posted series wins against nine of the 10 league opponents they faced.
 
• Ashley Ellis broke SEMO's all-time career records in home runs (53) and RBI (168). Ellis hit 19 home runs in 2021, surpassing her own previous single-season record of 17 (2019).
 
• Rachel Anderson polished off her phenomenal SEMO career as the only player in program history to hit over .400. Anderson broke the school's all-time career records in batting average (.412), slugging percentage (.695), on-base percentage (.502), at-bats (672), runs (173), hits (277), triples (31), total bases (467), walks (108), games played (231) and games started (231). She never missed a start in her entire college career.
 
• Rachel Rook garnered Third-Team National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Mideast Region accolades. Rook led the OVC in strikeouts (196), innings pitched (163), batters struck out looking (44), wins (20), saves (4), shutouts (7), games started (28) and opposing batting average (.191). Nationally, she ranked 12th in saves, 17th in shutouts and 26th in both strikeouts and wins.
 
• SEMO made its 19th all-time OVC Tournament appearance in 2021. It was the Redhawks fourth trip to the league's postseason tournament in seven years under Head Coach Mark Redburn.
 
• Ashley Ellis, Rachel Anderson and Kaylee Anderson represented the Redhawks on the 2021 OVC All-Tournament Team.
 

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