H.S. softball: GCIT's Luedtke is finishing her scholastic career with a bang

DEPTFORD – Maddie Luedtke doesn’t let a good pitch go by for one reason.

She knows there’s a very strong chance she might not see another one.

If opposing pitchers leave a ball in the middle of the strike zone, the senior slugger almost never misses it.

Luedtke punished two pitches in the Gloucester County Institute of Technology softball team’s opening-round playoff win over Vineland, delivering her first scholastic two-homer game during a wild 9-8 victory that advanced the Cheetahs into the quarterfinal round of the South Jersey Group 4 tournament.

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After a solid junior season, Luedtke has raised her game becoming one of the region’s most productive hitters. She has 34 hits with 34 RBIs and 30 runs scored.

“I’ve definitely improved my approach at bat,” said Luedtke, who had three hits and drove in four runs against Vineland. “I’m focusing more on getting the runs in and helping the team out. I’ve got to take whatever they give me because I don’t get much.”

Luedtke’s production has picked up over the last three weeks and, not surprisingly, so has the GCIT win total. She has five homers and 15 RBIs in her last nine games, a stretch the Cheetahs have gone 6-3.

“She’s awesome,” GCIT head coach John Holland said of his team’s hitting star. “She’s just gotten better at her game and she was pretty good to begin with. Unfortunately, she was one of those kids who missed her sophomore season (because of the pandemic).”

While her overall scholastic numbers will be down (57 hits, 56 RBIs, 17 homers for her career), her reputation in the batter’s box couldn’t get stronger. Vineland intentionally walked the slugger in a key spot late in the game with a runner on base.

Luedtke, who plays club ball with the New Jersey Gators, will attend and play softball at Rider University in the fall. She plans on studying health sciences.

However, Luedtke says there is unfinished business for the Cheetahs, who will look to get back to the sectional final after falling to Kingsway in the title game last year.

“That game (a 4-2 loss), it definitely made us want it more and work harder,” she said. “We definitely want to win the title (which would be a first for the school).”

What it means

Fourth-seeded GCIT (15-8) advances to the quarterfinal round for the fourth time in six years where it will meet a familiar foe in 12th-seeded Clearview. The Pioneers knocked off fifth-seeded Millville 7-3.

Clearview swept the season series from GCIT, including a 6-5 decision in the last meeting on April 27.

Will playing a third game against Clearview work in the Cheetahs’ favor?

“In a way, it’s an advantage because we know a lot about their players,” Luedtke said. “But it’s also hard to get it out of your head and focus on the game right then and there and not the past.”

Holland added, “I hope the third time is the charm. We’ve got to figure out how we’re going to approach them this time and take what we learned from playing them before.

“We’ve come out of the Hammonton Tournament playing some really good ball lately.”

Key plays

Holland moved Tori Spinella up to the sixth spot in the lineup and all the junior did was deliver three hits, including a homer and the decisive RBI single in the sixth inning.

Vineland erupted for five runs in the sixth inning turning a three-run deficit into an 8-6 lead. Anaya Troy had a clutch two-run single and Megan Harrell-Alvarez had a go-ahead double to spark the rally. The lead was short-lived though as GCIT rallied for three runs in the bottom of the sixth.

The Fighting Clan fell to 8-11, but there are some good signs for the future according to first-year coach Mike Reed.

“There are a lot of positives,” he said. “We have a lot of young talent and they got a taste of what it’s like.

“We’re just as good as that team, we just didn’t play that way (Monday). When you only play two innings of a seven-inning game, it’s a challenge.”

Tom McGurk is a regional sports reporter for the Courier-Post, The Daily Journal and Burlington County Times, covering South Jersey sports for over 30 years. If you have a sports story that needs to be told, contact him at (856) 486-2420 or email tmcgurk@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @McGurkSports. Help support local journalism with a digital subscription.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: H.S. softball: GCIT's Luedtke is finishing her scholastic career with a bang