Aubrey Miller enjoyed a sweet 16th birthday, and fourth-seeded Gloucester County Institute of Technology earned sweet redemption as it advanced to the NJSIAA South Jersey Group 4 softball semifinal with a 6-2 win over Clearview Friday.
Clearview was the No. 12 seed, but it owned two wins over the Cheetahs earlier in the season, 5-1 and 6-5.
It never had a chance to jump on top Friday. GCIT scored three runs in the third inning and took a 6-0 lead before easing to the victory.
Miller gave up 11 combined runs in the first two meetings but changing speeds effectively with a stellar changeup she held the Pioneers to one earned run in the third matchup.
“I was having an unlucky birthday, so my luck changed,” said Miller. “Last year we beat Kingsway on my birthday, so it’s a little birthday winning streak. I had more confidence coming into this game (than the previous two meetings) and I was also controlling my pitches more. The last couple games I’ve been working on my spots, and it’s been working very well. I like controlling my changeup and making them think in the box.”
GCIT will face top-seeded and No. 4 Egg Harbor in the semifinals. Last year, the Cheetahs upset Egg Harbor in the quarterfinals on the way to the final.
Madison Luedtke launched a ball to right-center field that looked like a three-run homer off the bat in the third inning Friday but in the muggy conditions the drive died at the wall and ended up as a double.
Still, it scored the first run and two more runs came across in the frame when Tori Spinella was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and April Jones added an RBI single.
“I just knew it was going to be something good and I was going to move that runner in, so I was very happy,” said Luedtke, who has 37 RBI. “We definitely wanted it more (after the last two losses). We wanted to come together and beat them.”
The Cheetahs pushed two unearned runs across in the bottom of the fourth on a two-out error and Faith Collier’s RBI single, then went ahead 6-0 on Aubrey Menold’s RBI single in the fifth.
Clearview scored its two runs in the top of the sixth inning on Kylie Cohen’s RBI and an error, but Holland visited the mound and Miller retired the final six hitters to end the game.
“You never like playing a team a third time,” said Holland. “I’d rather not have been beaten twice, but if I’m going to get a win one out of the three games this is the one I want. Last time we played them it was one of the coldest, windiest spring days we’ve had. The warmer weather helps and like Aubrey said, her confidence has improved. Everybody was pumped today.
“(Getting back to the final) would be nice, but we’ll take it one game at a time. Egg Harbor is tough. We played well there last year, and we’re going to have to do it again.”
Friday’s game was delayed twice for lightning, and games were postponed at schools just a few miles away but it never rained and after the second delay in the bottom of the first the game resumed without incident.
Still, it was a bit of unpleasant deja vu for the Cheetahs, who saw a sectional championship literally slip away in a rain storm in last year’s South Jersey Group 4 fina at Kingsway.
“In a way,” admitted Luedtke if the weather issue brought back unpleasant memories. “But we were ready to go. We couldn’t do that again.”
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Bill Evans can be reached at bevans@njadvancemedia.com. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription.
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