Associate Head Coach
Hitting Coach
Seventh Season at Villanova
Alma Mater: Fordham '14
Gabby Luety came to Villanova along with head coach Bridget Orchard before the 2019 season and she enters her seventh season as the Wildcats hitting coach and second as associate head coach in 2025. Her arrival on the Main Line as part of Orchard’s staff has coincided with Villanova erupting into a dominant offensive team that is steadily rewriting the program’s all-time record book in numerous hitting categories.
The 2024 campaign saw Luety and the staff earn Mideast NFCA Coaching Staff and Co-BIG EAST Staff of the Year honors as the 'Cats picked up the first regular season BIG EAST title in program history, a third conference title in four years and a Regional Final appearance for the first time ever. Luety coached Lilly St. Jean to a First Team All-BIG EAST honor, and led the lineup to a new single season record for walks while finishing second in VU history for home runs, doubles, runs scored and RBI.
2023 brought a third straight appearance in the BIG EAST Championship, this time earning runner-up honors. It was a highly successful season at the plate, as Luety's squad set program records for runs scored (301), RBI (281), doubles (95) and walks (225). Luety worked with five players who earned all-conference honors, including BIG EAST Player of the Year Tess Cites who led the team with a .474 average in league play.
The 2022 season saw a second straight conference championship for Villanova, sending the program to another NCAA regional. During the 2021 season the Wildcats won their first BIG EAST title and advanced to an NCAA regional for the first time in program history. Villanova finished the season with a 37-15 record and won its first NCAA Tournament game with a win over UMBC in the Tucson Regional hosted by Arizona. The lineup smashed its way to success in 2021 and the Wildcats set single-season school records with 59 home runs and 187 walks while tying their all-time record with 293 runs scored.
Villanova led the BIG EAST in batting average (.296), on-base percentage (.387) and slugging percentage (.486) in 2021 while also leading the league in scoring (5.63 runs per game), home runs (1.13 home runs per game) and walks (187). Along the way to posting a 15-2 regular season record against BIG EAST foes the Wildcats outscored the opposition, 105-43, for an average scoring margin of better than 3.6 runs per game.
Luety worked with five players who earned BIG EAST and/or NFCA Mideast All-Region accolades during the 2021 season. The headliner from the group was Paige Rauch, who became the Villanova softball program’s second All-American when she was named to the NFCA All-America Third Team. Rauch won her second BIG EAST Player of the Year Award and made history as the first player in conference history to be both the Player of the Year and the Pitcher of the Year in the same season. Rauch and catcher Ryan Henry were each first team All-BIG EAST honorees, with Henry bursting onto the national scene by leading the Wildcats with 13 home runs and slugging .583 while hitting .295 with 38 runs batted in. She was also a third team All-Region selection.
Sophomore catcher Ally Jones was a second team All-BIG EAST and a second team All-Region pick last year. She slashed .363/.479/.664 in her first full collegiate season and ranked second on the team with 24 walks, all but three of which came on full counts as she proved her ability to work a count to her favor better than anyone else on the team. Junior shortstop Megan Kern was a second team All-BIG EAST choice and sophomore third baseman Chloe Smith earned first team All-Region mention. Smith batted .356 to follow up on a .365 freshman season in 2020. Kern batted .302 with 12 doubles in just 36 games and was named to the BIG EAST Championship All-Tournament Team along with Rauch, second baseman Angela Giampolo and first baseman Julia DaCosta.
Villanova hit 50 home runs in a season for the first time in program history during Luety’s first year on the coaching staff in 2019. It was 13 more home runs than the Wildcats had ever hit in a single season and the team averaged 0.94 home runs per game. The following season was off to an even more prodigious power start as Villanova hit 33 home runs in 27 games played (1.22 per game) during the shortened 2020 season. When the team got back onto the field in 2021, 11 different players hit a home run and the Wildcats’ average of 1.13 home runs per game ranked 36th nationally.
The accolades for Villanova during Luety’s first season in 2019 included BIG EAST Player of the Year honors for Rauch and All-BIG EAST selections for Rauch and Giampolo. Both were also named ECAC All-Stars for the year.
Luety spent the 2016-18 seasons on Orchard’s staff at Fordham and helped the Rams win Atlantic 10 Conference titles in each of those three seasons. She was instrumental in mentoring 12 NFCA Mid-Atlantic All-Region honorees, 10 All-Atlantic 10 selections, seven ECAC All-Stars, two Atlantic 10 Rookies of the Year, one conference Player of the Year and one Pitcher of the Year. During the 2017 season, Luety was a member of Fordham’s Regional Coaching Staff of the Year.
Prior to the start of her coaching career Luety played for Orchard at Fordham and graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. She was a standout student-athlete for the Rams and a four-year starting catcher who helped Fordham win three Atlantic 10 titles and appear three times in the NCAA Tournament. As a senior in 2014, Luety garnered first team All-Atlantic 10 accolades in addition to earning a spot on the Atlantic 10 Championship All-Tournament Team. Other career accomplishments included being named to the 2013 NFCA Mid-Atlantic All-Region first team, earning second team All-Atlantic 10 accolades the same year and previously being a 2011 Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team pick.
