Troy University Cardinal Clash

Dates: Thursday-Saturday, February 13-15, 2025
Location: Troy, Ala.
Facility: Troy Softball Complex
Series Records: vs. Alabama State (3-2); vs. Troy (1-2); vs. Western Kentucky (2-8)

Schedule
Thursday, February 13 - vs. Troy (3-2), 4:30 p.m., CT | Watch | Live Stats
Friday, February 14 - vs. Western Kentucky (1-4), 9 a.m., CT | Live Stats
Friday, February 14 - vs. Alabama State (0-5), 2:30 p.m., CT | Live Stats
Saturday, February 15 - vs. Alabama State (0-5), 9 a.m., CT | Live Stats

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Game Notes: Southeast Missouri
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Redhawks Open Season at Cardinal Clash
•    Southeast Missouri opens its 2025 season with four games at the Troy University Cardinal Clash.
•    SEMO faces Troy in its season-opener Thursday. First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m., CT in Troy, Alabama.
•    The Redhawks then play Western Kentucky (9 a.m.) and Alabama State (2:30 p.m.) Friday before concluding the four-team event with another game vs. Alabama State (9 a.m.) Saturday.
•    SEMO was the only Ohio Valley Conference team that did not play during the first weekend of the softball season a week ago.
•    This week marks the first of three tournaments the Redhawks will play before the start of OVC action.

Series Notes
•    The Redhawks are a combined 6-12 against teams participating in the Cardinal Clash.
•    Southeast Missouri is 3-2 against Alabama State, 1-2 against Troy and 2-8 vs. Western Kentucky.
•    SEMO faces Troy for the first time since 2020.
•    The Redhawks last played Western Kentucky in 2022 and Alabama State in 2020.
•    Mark Redburn records of 3-2 vs. Alabama State, 1-3 vs. Troy and 2-5 vs. Western Kentucky as SEMO's head coach.

Preseason OVC Favorite
•    For the fifth time in six years, Southeast Missouri was tabbed the Ohio Valley Conference preseason favorite.
•    SEMO, which went 28-26 overall and 19-8 in the OVC a year ago, won the 2024 OVC Tournament and made its third NCAA Division I Softball Tournament appearance.
•    The Redhawks accumulated 152 points and nine of the possible 20 first-place votes by the league's head coaches and communications directors.
•    Southern Indiana was second with 140 points and six first-place nods, while Eastern Illinois rounded out the top three with the remaining five first-place votes and 139 total points.
•    Tennessee State (107 pts.), Tennessee Tech (82 pts.), Lindenwood (80 pts.), UT Martin (74 pts.), SIU Edwardsville (73 pts.), Morehead State (30 pts.) and Western Illinois (23 pts.) complete the predicted order of finish.
•    Prior to 2025, SEMO was also the OVC preseason favorite in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2024.

Season-Openers
•    The Redhawks are 17-16 in season-opening games during its NCAA Division I era.
•    This year marks Southeast Missouri's 34th as an NCAA Division I program since the Redhawks initially made the move to D-I in 1992.
•    SEMO is 5-5 all-time in season-openers under Head Coach Mark Redburn.

Tournament Play
•    Southeast Missouri plays its first 14 games of the season outside of Cape Girardeau across three different tournaments.
•    After the Troy University Cardinal Clash, SEMO heads Chattanooga, Tennessee for five games at the Frost Classic (Feb. 21-23).
•    The Redhawks then travel to Monroe, Louisiana for five more contests at the Best on the Bayou Tournament (Feb. 28-Mar. 2).
•    SEMO will not be at home until it begins Ohio Valley Conference play on Mar. 8-9.

Roster Talk
•    The Redhawks 2025 roster consists of 22 players, including six seniors, three juniors, 11 sophomores and two freshmen.
•    Sydney Dennis, Tatum Gerwitz, Delaney Kell, Sydney Melton, Tori Bradley and Aubrie Shore are the seniors.
•    Division I transfers Elliott Stinson (P, Southern Illinois) and Madison Winkler (OF, Louisville) make their debuts as Redhawks this year.
•    SEMO has players represented from five different states, including Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Oklahoma.

Returning All-OVC Performers
•    Southeast Missouri has two returning All-Ohio Valley Conference performers from last season.
•    First baseman Aubrie Shore garnered Second-Team All-OVC honors and pitcher Maddie Carney landed a spot on the OVC All-Newcomer Team.
•    Shore was the only player who started all 54 games in 2024. She hit .338 as SEMO's fourth-leading hitter. Shore led the team in doubles (16), hits (54) and RBI (32).
•    Carney went 6-6 with a 3.35 ERA and two saves in 31 appearances and five starts as a freshman. She pitched two complete games, one shutout and struck out 35 in 83.2 innings. Carney ranked second on the team in appearances, wins, complete games, shutouts, innings and strikeouts.

Seven-Straight Winning Seasons
•    The Redhawks put together a winning season in seven-straight years.
•    Southeast Missouri posted 30 or more victories in four of those seasons (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022). 
•    The Redhawks went 29-14 overall in 2023 and 28-26 in 2024.
•    SEMO's 2020 season was shortened to 17 games (12-5) due to a global COVID-19 pandemic.

Team 49
•    The 2025 club is the 49th team in Southeast Missouri's softball history.
•    SEMO has an all-time record of 1,237-1,004-3 since softball first began in 1977.
•    The Redhawks have accumulated 19 30+ win seasons, two 40-win seasons, eight Ohio Valley Conference regular-season titles, seven OVC Tournament championships and three NCAA Division I Tournament appearances in program history.

Major Success
•    Since 2019, Southeast Missouri has won three Ohio Valley Conference championships, two OVC Tournament titles and made the NCAA Tournament twice.
•    SEMO finished among the top two teams in the OVC during four of the last five years.
•    The Redhawks won the OVC regular-season title in 2019, 2021 and 2023 (all odd years) during that span.
•    In its last five seasons, SEMO finished with 16 or more OVC victories. 
•    The Redhawks were 19-8 in 2024, 20-2 in 2023, 16-10 in 2022, 23-6 in 2021 and 17-5 in 2019.
•    SEMO averaged less than seven (6.5) league losses over the last six seasons. Since 2018, the Redhawks have gone 110-39 against OVC foes.
•    The reigning OVC Tournament Champion Redhawks will vye for their eighth OVC Tournament crown in 2025.

Redburn in 11th Season
•    Mark Redburn is in his 11th season as Southeast Missouri's head coach.
•    Redburn is 266-211 overall and 140-81 in Ohio Valley Conference games at the helm.
•    He has led SEMO to three OVC regular-season titles (2019, 2021, 2023), two OVC Tournament titles (2019, 2024) and a pair of NCAA Tournament berths (2019, 2024).
•    Redburn ranks second all-time in program history in wins behind Lana Richmond, who went 884-710-2 in 32 years as head coach from 1983-2014.
•    Redburn holds a record of 356-386 as an NCAA Division I head coach between his stops at Evansville and SEMO.
•    He has a career record of 480-460 in 20 years as a head coach.

Shore Among SEMO Leaders
•    Aubrie Shore ranks among Southeast Missouri's all-time career leaders in four categories.
•    Shore is currently 10th in slugging percentage (.552), tied for sixth in doubles (39), tied for ninth in home runs (18) and tied for fourth in sacrifice flies (8).
•    Her 16 doubles in 2024 tied for sixth among the program's single-season leaders.

Wallen Joins Coaching Staff
•    Bryan Wallen is in his first year as an assistant coach at Southeast Missouri.
•    Wallen, a graduate of SEMO, spent the last season as an assistant coach at Union University, where he worked primarily with the hitters and infielders.
•    Prior to that, Wallen worked as SEMO's Director of Player Development during the Redhawks 2023 Ohio Valley Conference championship season.

2025 Schedule
•    Southeast Missouri will play a 44-game schedule with 13 home contests in 2025.
•    SEMO will be outside of Cape Girardeau for its first 14 games across tournaments in Troy, Alabama, Chattanooga, Tennessee and Monroe, Louisiana.
•    The Redhawks also have Central Arkansas (Mar. 11), Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Mar. 12) and Murray State (Apr. 30) on their non-conference slate.
•    SEMO's 27-game Ohio Valley Conference schedule features home series against UT Martin (Mar. 8-9), SIU Edwardsville (Mar. 22-23), Morehead State (Apr. 12-13) and Southern Indiana (Apr. 26-27), and road series at Western Illinois (Mar. 15-16), Eastern Illinois (Mar. 29-30), Lindenwood (Apr. 5-6) and Tennessee State (May 3-4).

OVC Softball Championship Back in Peoria
•    The 2025 Ohio Valley Conference Softball Championship will be held May 7-10 at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex in Peoria, Illinois for the second year in a row.
•    The top eight teams will head to the league's postseason event.
•    Last year, #2 seed Southeast Missouri knocked off defending champion Eastern Illinois in the final.