In its 40th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade named Gabriella Shadek as the 2024-25 Gatorade New Jersey Softball Player of the Year. The award recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field.

Gabriella joins an impressive group of award winners that spans CEOs, coaches, and star athletes! IHA’s 5-foot-8 senior catcher batted .517 with 13 home runs and 34 RBI this past season, leading the Blue Eagles (24-2) to the Non-Public North Jersey, Group A Tournament championship game. 

Gabriella hit three home runs in a 12-0 win over Pingry School in the tournament semifinals and made New Jersey softball history in the process, breaking the all-time career record for home runs with 49! She also walked 38 times this spring and connected for nine doubles, compiling a .704 on-base percentage and a 2.021 OPS. Defensively, the 2024 North Jersey Softball Player of the Year neutralized opposing running games, throwing out 6-of-15 would-be base stealers and picking off five runners at first base.

Gabriella has maintained a 3.82 GPA at IHA and is headed to Duke University this fall to play softball. She has volunteered locally with the CHD Coalition, a group founded by her parents that benefits children born with congenital heart defects. She has also donated her time on behalf of Tackle Kids Cancer and as a youth softball coach. 

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in each state across 12 different high school sports. 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. 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 $5.6 million in grants to winners across more than 2,000 organizations.

Congratulations Gabriella. IHA is so proud of all of your achievements!