MONTGOMERY, Ala.– Southeast Missouri (7-1) remained hot by picking up two more wins at the Alabama State Stinger Classic Saturday. The Redhawks beat Howard University, 3-0, and Grambling State, 4-1.
 
SEMO has won seven in a row since dropping its 2020 season-opener against Kennesaw State.
 
Rachel Rook and Kaylee Anderson combined on a four-hit shutout against Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference member Howard in game one.
 
Rook, who missed SEMO's season-opening tournament in Troy, Alabama due to mononucleosis, set the tone by throwing a perfect game through her first three innings. She retired nine in a row before allowing her first hit, a single by Camille Navarro in the top of the fourth.
 
The Redhawks gave Rook all the run support she needed scoring twice in the third and once more in the fifth.
 
Austine Pauley doubled and scored with the help of a single by Claudia Gallo and a throwing error. Gallo later touched home on another Howard error to grab SEMO a 2-0 advantage in the bottom of the third inning.
 
Ashley Ellis then belted a two-out double to score K. Anderson in the fifth.
 
Rook (1-0) picked up the win in her first start of the season. She struck out six, did not allow a walk and scattered only two hits. Rook retired 14 of the 16 hitters she faced.
 
K. Anderson picked up her first save in 2020. She struck out one and gave up two hits in two scoreless innings.
 
SEMO finished with nine hits, including two each from Rachel Anderson and Rachael Donald. Donald went 2-for-3 with a double and R. Anderson was 2-for-3 with a stolen base and one RBI.
 
Howard committed three errors in the game.
 
SEMO broke a 1-1 tie by scoring a run in each of its final three innings en route to its victory over Grambling State.
 
Madison Harris led off the fifth inning with a triple to right center and later scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Gallo. 
 
Ellis bashed her team-high sixth home run of the season in the sixth inning and Pauley stole home in the seventh for the Redhawks other tallies.
 
Freshman Paytience Holman (2-1) picked up the win in relief. Holman tossed four scoreless  innings with three hits. She and Alexis Estes teamed up to limit GSU to only two hits.
 
Pauley and Harris combined for four of SEMO's eight hits against the Tigers.
 
SEMO concludes play at the Stinger Classic against South Carolina State Sunday morning.