Wamego, KS – After leading Wamego softball to its second-straight 4A state championship, right-handed pitcher Peyton Hardenburger was the named the Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year. Announced in a press release Friday morning by Gatorade.
Hardenburger led the Red Raiders to a 23-2 overall record, NCKL championship, regional championship and a 4A state championship last month in Salina. In the three-game state tournament run, she tossed 31 innings pitched, with 63 strikeouts and back-to-back no-hitters. Hardenburger compiled a 15-1 record with a 0.30 ERA and 288 strikeouts in 117 innings this spring. She
also batted .459 with 23 RBI and compiled an OPS of 1.265.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and
determine the state winners in each sport.
Hardenburger joins recent Gatorade Kansas Softball Players of the Year Madison Walker (2022-23, Olathe West High School), Nija Canady (2021-22 & 2020-21, Topeka High School) and Tatum Clopton (2019-20, Lawrence Free State High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $4.9 million in grants to winners across more than 1,900 organizations.
