EPCHS Alum In The Spotlight: Maddie Meisl, Class Of 2017

EVERGREEN PARK, IL — A key player on the nationally ranked Saint Xavier University softball team is a proud alum of Evergreen Park Community High School.

Maddie Meisl has been playing softball since she was an 8-year-old in the Evergreen Park Girls Softball League. More than a dozen years later, she’s a catalyst on an SXU Cougars team that is headed to the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament as the favorite with a 32-8 overall record.

The current SXU senior utility player has a .432 batting average, with 41 hits, 35 runs and a team-leading .514 on base percentage for the Cougars.

It’s a stellar season by any measure, but one Meisl sees as bittersweet. After all, it is her final year of being part of an organized school softball team.

“I love softball,” she said. “It’s going to be sad not being part of the team next year.”

Meisl said she chose to pursue her Master’s Degree at SXU because, at least in part, she still had one more year of college eligibility heading into 2022. She’s already received her bachelor’s degree in Sports & Fitness Administration, and is seeking the Master’s in Special Education.

At EPCHS, Meisl was not only one of the stars of a successful softball team, she was one of the biggest cheerleaders for her friends involved in other sports.

“I was at every sporting event,” she said. “The Herd student section was so much fun. It was the best four years, I loved everything about it.”

Also involved in volleyball and the National Honor Society at EPCHS, Meisl said one of the reasons she chose to attend EP over Marist as an eighth grader was because of the chance to play softball with her friends who grew up with her in the EPGSL. In middle school, Meisl left EPGSL to compete in travel leagues, and jumped at the opportunity to reunite with her fellow Evergreen Park softballers.

Plus, she loves Evergreen Park.

“I still live here, and will probably stay here,” she said. “It’s such a community feel. And I say the same thing about the high school. It is a public school, but feels like a small little family. Everyone knows everyone. We bond together, and that’s a good feeling.”

Meisl was part of the first EP team coached by Michelle Vucsko.

“Ms. Vucsko was great,” Meisl said, noting her plans to join the softball coaching staff at EPCHS as early as next year. She’s often seen at the new softball field cheering on this year’s Mustang squad, which sports an impressive 15-2-1 record.

The new softball amenities have impressed the former Mustang great.

“The field, the locker rooms, the clubhouse,” she said, “we never had any of that when I played. It’s awesome that the current players get it, but I wish I could have enjoyed it too!”

Meisl’s time at EPCHS as a student was so good, she said she was “sad to graduate.” But when it came down to picking a college, there was a similar fit right down the road.

“It came down to me not being able to leave EP,” she said of choosing to attend SXU over the likes of the University of Illinois and Illinois State University. “And softball. I was not ready to give up softball.”

Meisl’s success at SXU stretches beyond the softball field. She was named a Daktronics NAIA Scholar Athlete in 2020 and is a three-time member of the CCAC All-Academic Team.

“I recommend Saint Xavier to all our recruits,” she said. “It’s very much like EP, similar to a high school in which all the athletes know each other and hang out together. It’s a great experience.”