SALINA – A first-year coach and an undefeated record led to a program’s first state softball title on Friday, as the McPherson Lady Pups put the finishing touches on a 31-0 season by defeating Eudora 4-1 in the Class 4A state championship game.
 
Headlined by Addison Chapman, one of the top all-around players throughout the entire state, talent was never going to be the issue for McPherson heading into the 2025 season. The lone roadblock in front of the Lady Pups was learning to adapt to new coach Daryl Hoelting, who replaced longtime McPherson coach Danica Fitzmorris in the offseason.
 
Despite having to take on a different regime, the Lady Pups failed to waver even once as they finished the 2025 season with their first state championship trophy and as the lone unbeaten team in all of Kansas.
 
“To say this was a fabulous season would be an understatement,” Hoelting said after leading McPherson to its first state title in school history on Friday. “We had all of the components; we just had to get everything right. They had a new coach, they learned new signals, they learned a new way to do things and they bought in.

“They maybe didn’t like to run as much as we did to get in shape, but they played tough competition all year long so I’m extremely proud of these girls.”
 

McPherson was perhaps just one run shy of winning its first state title back in 2023 when it lost 1-0 in the championship game to Wamego, which saw its two-year reign in 4A come to an end with an opening-round 4-2 loss to Clearwater.
 
After falling in the regional championship game a season ago, McPherson re-emerged in 2025 with a vengeance. The Lady Pups took down nine upper-class teams during the regular season and also defeated a Wamego team led by pitcher and Tennessee commit Peyton Hardenburger (who did not participate in state due to an injury) 3-2 in an 18-inning thriller back on April 25.
 
Even with the grueling schedule, McPherson outscored its opponents 248-36 in the regular season and had just six games where it won by five or less runs.
 
“It all fell into place,” Hoelting said. “When you win 31 straight, you’re the first state championship team in softball in McPherson and you’re the first team in the state of Kansas to win 31 games in a year – that speaks highly. And we did it playing tough teams.”
 
McPherson entered state as the No. 1 seed and defeating league foe and No. 8 seed Circle 10-1 in the opening round and No. 4 seed Clearwater 7-0 in the semifinals to reach a second state championship game in three seasons. Their reward was a date with No. 2 seed Eudora, which had lost just one game all season.
 
The Cardinals were led by star senior pitcher Samantha Claire, who had tallied over 500 strikeouts in her four-year career, but McPherson combated it with a star of its own – Chapman.
 

Chapman delivered two complete-game performances in the pitcher’s circle for McPherson in its opening round and semifinal games. The senior and Butler Community College commit proceeded to complete the trifecta by tossing all seven innings of the championship game for a final stat line of 21 innings pitched, 10 hits allowed, two runs allowed, 19 strikeouts and four walks allowed.
 
“As soon as I step (in the circle), I dial in on the glove. There’s nothing else that can really rattle me,” Chapman said on what allowed her to throw three complete games in a span of just over 24 hours. “Our team – we’re so pumped up all of the time. Their energy just feeds off of me and I feed off of them and we just work really well together.”
 
Chapman’s dominance was not just limited to the pitcher’s circle. After forcing Eudora to go three up, three down in the top of the first to begin the championship game, Chapman sent a deep fly ball over the center fielder’s head to give McPherson a leadoff triple.
 
Two pitches later, Chapman crossed home plate off a wild pitch as the Lady Pups took a 1-0 lead to send an early message.
 
“That definitely set the tone,” Chapman said about her leadoff triple. “After that three up, three down inning, our whole team was just fired up. That energy really fed off to me. Getting that triple also got the others in the dugout excited, and it set the tone, for sure.”
 
McPherson stretched its lead to 3-0 off Ava Romero scoring on another wild pitch in the second inning and Rylie Whitfield hitting an RBI single in the third inning before Eudora found its first run of the game with an RBI single in the top of the fourth.
 

The Lady Pups answered immediately by plating their fourth run of the game off a Pera Bauer RBI single up the middle. Eudora mustered just three baserunners over the final three innings, but two of those came in the top of the sixth when the Cardinals put runners on first and second with just one out.
 
McPherson snuffed out the rally, however, by ending the threat with a strikeout and a ground out.
 
“Really good senior leadership,” Hoelting said on what helped his team fight through adversity not only in the championship game but throughout the entire season. “I was proud of our seniors for stepping up and they always righted the ship if something went wrong. If a young kid made a mistake, they embraced them and said ‘Hey, shake it off. Let’s go.’”
 
McPherson’s 4-1 lead traveled into the seventh and final inning, where a line out, a ground out and Chapman’s seventh strikeout of the game slammed the door shut on Eudora to give the Lady Pups the win.
 
“It feels so great. It kind of feels unreal right now knowing that the season is over, but I’m just so proud of these girls,” Chapman said. “We played together and had such great team chemistry all year, and I’m just so proud of them.”
 

For Hoelting, the win came on a piece of property he’s familiar with. Prior to McPherson, Hoelting coached at Salina South and won two Class 5A state championships with the Cougars before going on to win three state championships with Sacred Heart (two at the Class 3A level and one at the Class 2A-1A level).
 
Friday’s two wins on Salina South’s home field gives Hoelting six state championships in his 24-year high school coaching career, where he has now won at the 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A-1A level.
 
For now, his most recent goes down as McPherson’s first, as the Lady Pups will now have a state championship banner hung from the McPherson High School Roundhouse rafters with the word “UNDEFEATED” stitched into it.
 
“I’ve just been blessed to have great assistant coaches and great players to work with. My job is to see what I can get them all to do,” Hoelting said.