CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri's Mark Redburn was named Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year and first baseman Aubrie Shore was tabbed the league's Co-Player of the Year Tuesday night ahead of this week's OVC Tournament.
 
In all, SEMO had seven All-OVC selections with Shore, pitcher Delaney Kell, catcher Kat Sackett and center fielder Paige Halliwill earning first-team honors. Second baseman Sydney Dennis and shortstop Alyson Tucker claimed second-team accolades, and right fielder Zoe Schulte landed a spot on the 12-member All-Newcomer Team.
 
In his ninth year at the SEMO helm, Redburn guided the Redhawks to their eighth OVC regular-season title in program history and third since the 2019 campaign. 
 
Picked second in the league's preseason poll, SEMO ripped through the conference portion of its schedule compiling a 20-2 record along the way. The Redhawks clinched series sweeps against six of their eight OVC opponents and won 16-straight conference games from Mar. 18-Apr. 30. SEMO collected seven run-rule victories during its dominating run, its second-best OVC season in program history.
 
SEMO enters this week's OVC Tournament as the #1 seed for the third time with Redburn as its coach. The Redhawks are 28-12 and in position to get 30 wins in a season for the fourth-straight year. 
 
For the first time in program history, the Redhawks went undefeated at home in back-to-back seasons. This year, SEMO posted a 13-0 record in Cape Girardeau to extend its home winning streak to 30 games dating back to the end of the 2021 campaign. 
 
Statistically, SEMO outscored its opponents by a staggering +107 margin (149-42) in conference play. The Redhawks led the OVC in batting average (.358), on-base percentage (.441), slugging percentage (.547), runs (149), hits (209), triples (12), doubles (41), RBI (138) and total bases (319) in league games.
 
Overall, the Redhawks top the OVC in batting average (.311), ERA (2.61), on-base percentage (.396), triples (13), opposing batting average (.226), saves (6), fewest hits allowed (222), fewest runs allowed (115), fewest earned runs allowed (96) and fewest walks allowed (73) through 40 contests.
 
For Redburn, the OVC Coach of the Year honor is the third in his career with all those awards coming in a four-year span.
   
A native of Mahomet, Illinois, Shore is just the sixth Redhawk to win the coveted OVC Player of the Year award. She shares this year's honor with Southern Indiana utility player Allie Goodin.
 
In conference play alone, Shore hit .421 with 12 of her 24 hits going for extra bases. She scored 11 runs, had six doubles, six home runs and 26 RBI in 22 OVC starts. Shore boasted a .842 slugging percentage and .507 on-base percentage, as well. She leads the Redhawks with seven home runs and 32 RBI as one of four players to start every game.
   
Kell, who hails from Salem, Illinois, surged to the top of SEMO's pitching staff this season. After appearing in three games and making only one start as a freshman the year before, Kell went unbeaten at 9-0 with a 1.94 ERA in 12 games and 10 starts against OVC foes. 
 
At 13-3 with a 2.75 ERA overall, she leads the Redhawks in wins, appearances (23), starts (15), innings (99.1) and strikeouts (67). Additionally, Kell threw two shutouts, four complete games and picked up one save.
   
Halliwill earns First-Team All-OVC honors for the first time in her career. A native of Mogadore, Ohio, she is SEMO's second-leading hitter with a .350 average in 40 starts. Halliwill leads the team with 41 hits, 31 runs scored and 12 multiple-hit games, and ranks second in doubles (10), triples (3), RBI (21) and stolen bases (9). 
 
In 22 league starts, Halliwill hit .364 with 20 runs, three doubles, three triples, one home run and 15 RBI. She ranks second in the OVC in runs scored against conference opponents.
   
Sackett, who is from Erie, Colorado, hit .311 with 14 runs, six doubles, two home runs and 15 RBI in 22 OVC starts behind the plate. She leads the team with 13 doubles and ranks 11th nationally in doubles per game (0.34).
   
A native of Farmington, Missouri, Tucker came back from a season-ending knee injury in 2022 to garner Second-Team All-OVC honors in her final year as a Redhawk. Tucker started all 40 games with 35 of those starts at shortstop. 
 
She hit .375 with 12 runs, 21 hits, six doubles, three home runs and 24 RBI in conference action. Tucker boasts a .330 batting average and is tied for first on the team with 32 RBI overall. She struck out just seven times in 97 at-bats and leads the team with eight multi-RBI performances.
   
Like Tucker, fellow middle infielder Dennis gets all-conference accolades for the first time in her career. Dennis, who hails from Eureka, Missouri, is SEMO's fourth-leading hitter with a .337 clip. She has 31 hits, two doubles, a team-high five triples and ranks first on the team with 10 stolen bases as the Redhawks starting second baseman.
 
Dennis' numbers in OVC action include a .424 batting average, 14 runs, 25 hits, two doubles, 13 RBI and seven stolen bases over 19 starts.
   
Schulte, a native of Wentzville, Missouri, is the Redhawks top hitter with a .393 batting average through 38 games and 20 starts. She transferred to SEMO from Iowa and hit .459 with 17 hits, 10 runs and five RBI in conference play alone.

SEMO's seven All-OVC honors tie for second-most in a season in program history.
 
Eastern Illinois' Olivia Price (Pitcher of the Year) and Kandall Grover (Freshman of the Year) rounded out the OVC speciality award-winners.
 
The Redhawks open postseason play against the winner of #4 UT Martin and #5 SIU Edwardsville/#8 Morehead State Thursday. First pitch is set for 12:30 p.m., CT at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Alabama.

2023 All-OVC Softball Teams

Co-Player of the Year: Allie Goodin, Southern Indiana
Co-Player of the Year: Aubrie Shore, Southeast Missouri
Pitcher of the Year: Olivia Price, Eastern Illinois
Freshman of the Year: Kendall Grover, Eastern Illinois
Coach of the Year: Mark Redburn, Southeast Missouri

First-Team
P - Delaney Kell, Southeast Missouri
P - Josie Newman, Southern Indiana
P - Olivia Price, Eastern Illinois
C - Kat Sackett, Southeast Missouri
INF - Kendall Grover, Eastern Illinois
INF - Aubrie Shore, Southeast Missouri
INF - Paige Rocha, SIU Edwardsville
INF - Emily Williams, Morehead State
OF - Kaci Fuller, UT Martin
OF - Paige Halliwill, Southeast Missouri
OF - Lexi King, SIU Edwardsville
UT/DP - Allie Goodin, Southern Indiana

Second-Team
P - Sydney Baalman, SIU Edwardsville
P - Caitlyn Manus, Tennessee State
C - Onnika Spencer, Tennessee State
INF - Sydney Dennis, Southeast Missouri
INF - Kaitlyn Kelley, UT Martin
INF - Lindy Milkowski, Eastern Illinois
INF - Alyson Tucker, Southeast Missouri
OF - Avry Blume, UT Martin
OF - Jaylen Prichard, Eastern Illinois
OF - Irelynn West, Lindenwood
UT/DP - Katie Dreiling, UT Martin
UT/DP - Rachel Kaufman, Eastern Illinois

All-Newcomer Team
Jessie Begley, P, Morehead State
Dallis Darnell, INF, Lindenwood
Kendall Grover, INF, Eastern Illinois
Aryn Henke, OF, Eastern Illinois
Brooklynn Linneman, P, UT Martin
Kiersten Nixon, OF, UT Martin
Rylie Pindel, P, SIU Edwardsville
Paige Rocha, INF, SIU Edwardsville
Zoe Schulte, OF, Southeast Missouri
Nahtali Simpson, INF, Tennessee State
Onnika Spencer, C, Tennessee State
Emily Williams, INF, Morehead State