Amanda (Brendel) Litteken put together one of the most dominant careers by a Salem Lady Wildcats softball player and continued that excellence on to the collegiate level.

A 2007 Salem Community High School graduate, Litteken was a force both at the plate and on the mound for the Lady Wildcats. Her biggest offensive season came as a junior in 2006 when she set school records for batting average (.554), hits (56), doubles (12) (since broken), triples (12) and RBIs (44). Litteken was equally dominant on the mound. Her 25 wins during her senior season in 2007 still stands as the school mark. So, does her 0.71 earned run average. Litteken broke the school record for strikeouts in a season with 216 during her junior campaign although that mark has since fallen. Litteken was a four-time All-Apollo Conference selection.

The top three-win totals in a season by a Lady Wildcats softball team came during Litteken’s tenure with the program led by a 26-win campaign in 2007. Prior to Litteken’s arrival no Salem team had won more than 18 games in a season.

Litteken began her collegiate path at Rend Lake College where she spent one season with the Lady Warriors. During that one campaign Litteken led Rend Lake in batting average, triples, home runs and RBIs. She also won ten games on the mound.

Litteken transferred to the University of Southern Indiana for the remainder of her collegiate competition. As a sophomore Litteken was a Great Lakes Valley Conference Second Team selection as she led the Screaming Eagles with seven home runs and was runner-up in batting average and RBIs.

As a junior in 2010 Litteken had eight multi-hit games when she started 44 of her team’s 45 games at second base as she received Academic District Third Team honors in addition to being named to the All-GLVC Academic Team.

Litteken closed out her college eligibility with a stellar senior season when she was selected to the All-GLVC First Team. She led USI in batting average at .388, which ranked fourth in the league, and hit a team-high eight home runs. Litteken reached base safely in 43 consecutive games. Litteken received a GLVC Player of the Week Award and earned All-GLVC Academic honors for the second straight year. It was also during her senior season when Litteken was named to the Daktronics & NFCA All-Midwest Region Team.

Despite playing only three years at USI, she finished second all-time on the program’s all-time career home run list with 20.
At the time of her induction into the Salem High Sports Hall of Fame Litteken resided in Salem and served as a physical education instructor for first through fifth grade students at Salem District 111. During her return to the area she served as an assistant softball coach for one season at Salem Community High School, one season as softball coach at Selmaville Grade School and four years as Selmaville girls basketball coach.