The Warrenton softball run of dominance may have culminated with its second straight Class 3 championship Saturday.

But it began when many of this year’s players were in elementary school.

Warrenton won its district championship in 2010, appeared in the championship game in 2011 and 2012 and has won four straight district titles since.

The senior quartet of Kaylee Anderson, Jenny Jansen, Emma Tinnin and Ally Benkowich went undefeated in Gateway Athletic Conference North games and never failed to reach the Class 3 playoffs.

Every player or coach has his or her own theory behind the success, but it starts with pitching, defense and discipline.

“I think that comes from coaching,” Jansen said of her team’s discipline at the plate, in the field and on the bases. “Coach Hibbs puts a lot of time and effort in making sure we know all the situations.”

The Warriors rarely ran into outs and rarely gave up runs in spurts, which made them hard to beat, even when the offense struggled.

“We work on defense a lot,” Anderson said. “That’s what he (Hibbs) stresses the most.”

Defense was on display last weekend in Springfield.

In Friday’s semifinal, Smithville failed to get the ball out of the infield.

The two hardest hit balls were snagged by first baseman Destinee Frost and third baseman Amanda Vehlewald.

The offense  was slow to get going this season, which concerned Hibbs.

“We lost a lot of players off last year’s team, and I wasn’t sure how the bottom of the lineup would turn out,” Hibbs said. “But toward the end of the season they did a great job. They put the ball in play and manufactured runs for us.

Saturday, the team scored three runs on three hits, thanks to three walks and three Sullivan errors.

Whether this year’s Warriors were as good as last year’s team is debatable.

But everyone could agree the 2016 version wasn’t going to beat itself.

It helped having a likely all-state pitcher like Anderson, with one of the best backup pitchers in the state in Jansen.

The duo struck out 242 batters this season.

It also helped that every starter played softball for a club team during the off-season.

“It always helped that we get so much work in the summer,” Jansen said. “We all play on travel teams, so a lot of that knowledge comes from that.”

Hibbs agreed.

“We talk a lot about discipline,” he said. “We learn from the good players that we’ve had in the past. We’ve been in the district championship game seven games in a row, so there has been a lot of success in softball.”

Warrenton posted a 55-3 record the last two seasons, with the three losses coming in extra innings.

The senior class finished their high school careers with a 97-11 record.

Anderson and Jansen finished with 139 and 174 career hits, respectively.

“When they came in, you could see how great they were going to be,” Hibbs said. “I’ve seen a lot of good players, and they are as good as it gets.”

“And you have to give credit to the good parents,” he added. “Without good parents that are willing to put in time and money to help make their kids better, this doesn’t happen. They see the best of the best in the summer, and playing at a high level and failing sometimes is what makes this kind of success. It’s not like high school ball because they really get pushed.”

Six starters are expected to return next season, and Hibbs isn’t sure how 2017 will look.

But he trusts the program will continue to roll.

“It could be a rebuilding year but I thought this might be a rebuilding year, too, so you just never know,” he said with a laugh. “It’s just a great bunch of girls, and we were fortunate enough to do it again.”