Southern Mississippi Black & Gold Challenge

Tournament Information
Dates: Friday-Sunday, February 6-8, 2026
Participating Teams: UAB, Lipscomb, Louisiana Tech, Southeast Missouri, Southern Mississippi
Location: Hattiesburg, Miss.
Facility: Southern Miss Softball Complex (1,000)
Surface: Tifton 419 Bermuda
Series Records: vs. UAB, First Meeting; vs. Lipscomb (3-6); vs. Louisiana Tech (1-7); vs. Southern Mississippi (1-0)

Schedule
Friday, February 6 - vs. UAB, 2 p.m., CT | Live Stats
Friday, February 6 - at Southern Mississippi, 4:30 p.m., CT | Live Stats
Saturday, February 7 - vs. Louisiana Tech, 11:30 a.m., CT | Live Stats
Saturday, February 7 - vs. Lipscomb, 7 p.m., CT | Live Stats
Sunday, February 8 - at Southern Mississippi, 11:30 a.m., CT | Live Stats

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Game Notes: Southeast Missouri
Media Guide: Southeast Missouri

Go Time
•    Preseason Ohio Valley Conference favorite Southeast Missouri begins its 2026 season at the Black & Gold Challenge in Hattiesburg, Mississippi Feb. 6-8.
•    SEMO will play five games in three days as part of the five-team event hosted by Southern Mississippi.
•    The Redhawks open the year vs. UAB (2 p.m.) and Southern Mississippi (4:30 p.m.) Friday.
•    SEMO then faces Louisiana Tech (11:30 a.m.) and Lipscomb (7 p.m.) Saturday before taking on Southern Mississippi (11:30 a.m.) one more time Sunday.

Series Records
•    Southeast Missouri is a combined 5-13 against its opposition in this weekend's Black & Gold Challenge.
•    Friday's season-opener is the first meeting between SEMO and UAB.
•    The Redhawks are 3-6 all-time vs. Lipscomb, 1-7 vs. Louisiana Tech and 1-0 vs. Southern Mississippi.
•    SEMO has one win against Lipscomb (2022) and one victory against Southern Mississippi (2020) with Mark Redburn as its head coach.
•    The Redhawks shutout Southern Mississippi, 7-0, at the Troy University Tournament during the third game of the 2020 campaign.
•    That 2020 season was canceled 17 games in due to a global COVID-19 pandemic.

Tournament Play
•    As has been the case in years past, Southeast Missouri will spend its first several weeks of its season outside of Cape Girardeau.
•    SEMO will play its first 20 games across four different tournaments in four different states.
•    After this weekend's season-opening Black & Gold Challege, the Redhawks travel to Commerce, Texas for the East Texas A&M Tournament (Feb. 12-14), Fayetteville, Arkansas for the Woo Pig Classic (Feb. 20-22) and Stillwater/Tulsa, Oklahoma for a tournament (Feb. 27-Mar. 1).

Redhawks Picked First in OVC Preseason Poll
•    For the third-straight year and sixth time in seven seasons, Southeast Missouri was tabbed the Ohio Valley Conference preseason favorite.
•    Prior to 2026, SEMO was picked first in the league's preseason poll in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024 and 2025.
•    The Redhawks garnered 148 points and eight first-place votes in the balloting among OVC head coaches and communication directors.
•    SIU Edwardsville is second with 139 points and eight first-place nods, while Eastern Illinois, which won both the 2025 OVC regular-season and tournament titles, rounds out the top three with 138 points and three first-place votes.
•    Lindenwood (108 pts.), Southern Indiana (107 pts., 1 first-place vote), Tennessee Tech (75 pts.), Tennessee State (68 pts.), UT Martin (55 pts.), Western Illinois (41 pts.) and Morehead State (21 pts.) complete the predicted order of finish.

Returning All-OVC Performers
•    Infielder Brooklyn Saysoff and outfielder Madison Winkler are Southeast Missouri's returning All-Ohio Valley Conference players.
•    Both earned first-team honors in 2025.
•    Saysoff ranked second on the team with a .363 batting average and led the Redhawks with 49 RBI, while Winkler rated fourth on the team with a .348 batting average.

Tournament Field
•    Louisiana Tech was picked to finish second in the 2026 Conference USA Preseason Softball Poll, while UAB (American) and Lipscomb (Atlantic Sun) were selected eighth in their respective conference preseason polls. Southern Mississippi was picked 11th in the Sun Belt Conference's 12-team Preseason Poll.
•    Louisiana Tech is led by CUSA Preseason Player of the Year Reagan Marchant who hit .313 with 18 home runs, 11 doubles, 53 RBI and 33 runs scored a year ago. Marchant broke LA Tech's single-season home run record.

Watch This
•    Pitcher Maddie Carney and infielder Aubrie Shore are among the Ohio Valley Conference's Players to Watch this 2026 season.
•    Carney struck out 31 in 70 innings and held opponents to a .245 batting average a year ago. She ranked third on the team in appearances (19) and second in starts.
•    Carney is expected to start in the circle vs. UAB Friday.
•    Shore returns after missing the entire 2025 season with a back injury. She was a Second-Team All-OVC honoree the year before her injury in 2024.

Season-Openers
•    The Redhawks are 17-17 all-time in season-opening games during their NCAA Division I era.
•    This year marks Southeast Missouri's 35th as an NCAA Division I program since the Redhawks initially moved to D-I in 1992.
•    SEMO is 5-6 in such games under Head Coach Mark Redburn. 

2026 Roster
•    Southeast Missouri's 2026 roster consists of 24 players, including five seniors, 10 juniors, one sophomore and eight freshmen.
•    SEMO returns four players that started 32 or more games last season (Brooklyn Saysoff, 45; Madison Winkler, 44; Gracie Luna, 44; Brittany Affolter, 32).
•    Saysoff and Winkler are two of the team's top four hitters back from 2025.
•    Pitching wise, Maddie Carney, Willow Van Haren and Elliott Stinson return.
•    Carney (3), Van Haren (6) and Stinson (4) accounted for 13 of the Redhawks 27 wins.
•    This year's team includes players from five different states (Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas).

Eight-Straight Winning Seasons
•    The Redhawks put together a winning season in eight-straight years.
•    Southeast Missouri posted 30 or more victories in four of those seasons (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022). 
•    The Redhawks went 29-14 overall in 2023, 28-26 in 2024 and 27-19 in 2025.
•    SEMO's 2020 season was shortened to 17 games (12-5) due to a global COVID-19 pandemic.

Major Success
•    Since 2019, Southeast Missouri has won three Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championships, two OVC Tournament titles and made a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances.
•    SEMO finished among the top two teams in the OVC during four of the last six years.
•    The Redhawks won the OVC regular-season title in 2019, 2021 and 2023 (all odd years) during that span.
•     In its last six seasons, SEMO finished with 16 or more OVC victories.
•     The Redhawks were 17-9 in 2025, 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 2019, the Redhawks have gone 112-40 (.736) against OVC foes.    

Celebrating 50 Seasons
•    The 2026 team is the 50th in Southeast Missouri softball history.
•    SEMO's softball program officially joined the NCAA in 1976.
•    SEMO softball has an all-time program record of 1,264-1,023-3. That record includes a 904-800-2 mark at the NCAA Division I level and a 443-311 record as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference.
•    SEMO softball also has a total of eight OVC regular-season titles, seven OVC Tournament crowns and three NCAA Tournament berths in its Division I era.
•    A special SEMO Softball 50 Year Celebration is scheduled for April 17, 2026 at Scout Hall in Cape Girardeau later this spring.

Redburn in 12th Season
•     Mark Redburn is in his 12th season as Southeast Missouri's head coach.
•     Redburn is 293-230 overall and 157-90 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 383-405 as an NCAA Division I head coach between his stops at Evansville and SEMO.
•     He has a career record of 507-479 in 21 years as a head coach.