SALINA -- New year, new team, but the same ace on the mound for the Wamego Red Raiders.
 
Junior right-hander Peyton Hardenburger came up aces for the Red Raiders during the Class 4A State Tournament on Friday at the Salina South High softball complex.
 
For the second consecutive year, Hardenburger threw back-to-back no-hitters in the semifinals and finals, leading Wamego to a 5-0 victory over Andale/Garden Plain in the championship game. The state title was the second straight for the Red Raiders (25-4) and third in four years.
 
Hardenburger was simply brilliant. In the semifinals against Eudora -- a 2-0 win -- and finals against Andale, the future Tennessee Volunteer allowed just three base runners, struck out 33 batters, walked two and hit one. She came within two outs of a perfect game in the championship game.
 
And all this after throwing 199 pitches Thursday in a 17-inning marathon against Clearwater - a three-hour, 45-minute game that saw her strike out 30 batters in a 2-1 victory.
 
To sum things up -- three games, 31 innings, 63 strikeouts, two no-hitters.
 
"I have no words. She's just different," Wamego head coach Luke Meyer said. "To go through what she went through last night and to show up this morning and say, 'I want on the rubber; I want this moment.' She's a special kid."
 

 
Hardenburger, the only returning starter from the 2023 state title team, said she relished the challenge.
 
"After 17 innings (Thursday) my teammates were saying, 'Your arm's going to be tired,' and I was like, 'No, I feel like a bear out of hibernation; I'm ready to eat for the winter and fuel up for the summer, let's go,' " Hardenburger said. "But after today, I'm not going to lie; my legs feel like jello and my arm's a little bit on fire, but you know what, we're going to celebrate this win tonight."
 
As good as Hardenburger was, she received much-needed help from freshman teammate Alana McCarthy, who had a monster game at the plate against Andale.
 
McCarthy hit a two-out, two-run homer over the centerfield wall to give her team a 2-0 lead in the third inning. She then cleared the bases with a three-run double with two outs in the bottom of the sixth to give the Red Raiders some breathing room.
 
"That home run, I was like, 'Let's go,' I had so much adrenaline, it was amazing. I loved it ... something I've always dreamed about," said McCarthy, who was 4-for-4 at the plate with two singles, a double and home run. "I spent countless hours working on getting my reps in, getting my fielding in, getting my batting in, and I'm just thankful for the facility, my dad, my mom, my travel ball team for
helping me along the way."
 

 
The Red Raiders held a precarious 2-0 lead heading into the sixth inning despite having baserunners every inning. They stranded eight runners through the first five innings before McCarthy's three-run double.
 
"It was that kind of weekend for us," Meyer said. "We did a great job of getting runners on, but just couldn't punch them across. We ran into that last night (against Clearwater) and then today we finally had someone break through with the home run."
 
For Andale/Garden Plain, the loss failed to diminish what was a Cinderella ride to the finals. The eighth-seeded Indians (19-10) knocked off top-seeded Scott City in the first round and fourth-seeded Circle, 8-1, in the semifinals. The Indians had just one senior on the roster and started four freshmen and two sophomores.
 
"Oh, I'm extremely proud of these girls. We were just talking in the huddle after the game and a lot of us said, if you would have asked us back in March if we would have been in this position, we would have said absolutely not," head coach Erin Carney said. "It's been a tremendous season and I'm extremely proud of the girls we had this year."
 
Senior outfielder Kaylee Altman had a pair of doubles and three runs batted in in the win over Circle, but Hardenburger and her teammates proved to be too big of a hurdle to overcome in the finals.
 
"As the eighth seed, we didn't necessarily have the luxury of preparing for Wamego," Carney said. "We had to prepare to win game one and game two, so our preparation was just in between games in a (batting) cage. I'd like to say the outcome would be different if we had more time, but hey, it was a good day. I can't be sad about it."
 
Wamego also returns plenty of firepower as it looks for a three-peat in 2025. The Red Raiders also started four freshmen, have a talented eighth grade class joining the program next year and, of course, Hardenburger returns for her senior season.
 
"Peyton has kind of been our heartbeat and how we go, but I'll tell you what, she was the only full-time starting player I had coming back and it takes nine of us to go," Meyer said. "Peyton does a great job of shutting the other team down, but we've still got to score runs and to have freshmen step up like we have and sophomores step into roles, that's what I'm most proud of with this team - how they've grown, stepped into roles and taken advantage of their opportunities."
 
Eudora (24-5) came from behind to defeat Circle (24-7), 5-4, in eight innings in the third-place game.