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Sports

L-W East Softball Coach Meader Was a Champ as a Player, Too

Griffins softball coach Katie Meader was part of the 1997 state championship team at Lockport. She played collegiate ball at Loyola.

Katie Meader is used to winning.

She played a key role in the Lockport softball program winning its first state championship in 1997 when she was known as Katie Blackmore and contributed to the Whiteford Sharks earning a summer national championship in 1998.

That winning mentality has carried over in her current role as the head coach of the Lincoln-Way East softball team the past four seasons.

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“I think any coach or player should start the season with the goal of getting to state,” said Meader, a 1999 Lockport graduate. “If you fall short of the goal, it’s difficult to digest. Only one team can win it all each year, but it should be a driving force in playing the game.

"I just really enjoyed my time as a player at Lockport and being part of such a rich tradition. It’s something I’m trying to bring with me to East. Lincoln-Way East has already won a state championship, and I want the kids to try and live up to those high expectations.”

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Aimee Lonigro guided the Griffins to a state championship in the program’s first season in 2002, and Lincoln-Way East already has made two state appearances and won four sectional titles in its short existence.

Meader has compiled an impressive 88-30 record in her four seasons at the helm and has won two regional championships, but winning is certainly not everything.

“She really enjoys coaching,” said her husband Scott Meader, who dated Katie in high school when he was a state-qualifying golfer for the Porters. “She’s really good at it and works hard to make sure her program is run the way that she thinks it should be.

"Her foremost goal is the development of the girls. The respect she has from the players is obvious because once they (graduate), they are excited to keep in touch with her.”

Lockport Hall of Famer

Katie Meader demonstrated her leadership skills at Lockport.

She was a four-year starter for the Porters, starting in right field and hitting leadoff on the state championship team her sophomore season and starting in center field and hitting leadoff her senior season when the Porters placed third at state.

“Winning the championship was definitely one of the highlights of my life, a top-five moment,” said Meader, who is a member of Lockport’s Hall of Fame. “You’re in a class of your own when you win a state championship because not many people can say they were state champions. The postseason run was a thrill of a lifetime.”

Lockport beat Morton 3-2 in 15 innings in the Class AA championship game after beating Belleville West 3-2 in eight innings in the semifinals and Loyola 5-0 in the quarterfinals.

Meader, who went 5-for-12 with an RBI and two runs scored in the three games and finished the season hitting .381 with 29 runs and 11 RBIs, credits former Lockport head coach and Hall of Famer Barb Burk and current Lockport coach Marissa Chovanec, who was an assistant coach to Burk when Meader played, for much of her success.

Golden Moment Against Sandburg

While Meader wasn’t fortunate enough to win another championship in high school, it would be hard to script a better ending to her career.

She scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning of Lockport’s 2-1 win over rival Sandburg in the state third-place game as a senior.

“Some things never change,” said Meader, a member of Lockport’s Hall of Fame. “The rivalry that Lockport and Sandburg have today is the same rivalry we had in the '90s. To have the opportunity of scoring the winning run against Sandburg is definitely a good feeling.”

Meader enjoyed another successful state performance, finishing 6-for-14. Her heroics were even more impressive considering she did it all with a broken hand.
Leading off Lockport’s 2-0 quarterfinal win over Stevenson, Meader injured herself sliding into third base after unsuccessfully trying to stretch a double into a triple in the first inning.

“I played the whole tournament with a broken hand,” Meader said. “Of course, there was no way I was not going to play. I just didn’t want to think about it or let it be something that got in the way of what the team goal was of winning. It was tough hitting the ball, but I found a way to get it done.”

Meader demonstrated her toughness by going 3-for-9 with an RBI in a 2-1 loss to Chatham Glenwood in a 20-inning semifinal game and then went 2-for-4 against Sandburg in the third-place game.

She finished the season hitting a team-best .422 with nine doubles, seven triples, 19 RBIs and 23 runs scored.

Lockport fell one win shy of state berths during Meader’s freshman and junior seasons, but the Porters won 119 games in the four years she patrolled the outfield, including finishing 37-3 in 1997 and 35-3 in 1999.

She gets a glowing scouting report of her Lockport playing career from her husband.

“I went to a few of her games,” Scott Meader recalls. “I just remember her always being extraordinarily competitive in all facets. You could always tell she was a leader, it was evident early on. She set the tone for the team and her leadership would always shine through. She was a tremendous athlete, she could hit, run and had tremendous fielding ability.”

Meader went on to play four seasons at Loyola University where she was the starting center fielder and leadoff hitter for the Ramblers.

She was selected to the Horizon League Newcomer Second Team and was later chosen to the Horizon League All-Tournament Team.

“I was part of laying the ground work for Loyola back then,” Meader said. “Loyola is headed in a different direction now then when I played and it’s nice to see. It’s difficult at the college level, trying to balance softball and academics, but I’m proud to say I was a four-year scholarship athlete that graduated in four years.”

Lincoln-Way East Teacher, Soon-to-be-Mom

Despite all the success Meader had on the field, her focus in college was on becoming a teacher.

She is a special education teacher at Lincoln-Way East and is also a coordinator of student activities.

“I knew the direction I wanted to go,” Meader said. “I knew there was professional softball, but I focused on academics because I knew I wanted to be in education. I didn’t know at 17, 18, that I wanted to coach. I went to school to be a special education teacher and with that I had the opportunity to coach.

“I really enjoy my job. I get to meet a whole lot of kids at various activities we have at school, and I always have that desire to see the best in kids. I get that opportunity in the classroom and in this job. It’s something I’m proud to be part of here at school.”

Scott Meader, who is a financial analyst for McDonald’s in Oak Brook, is proud of his wife for currently pursuing a doctoral degree in education administration.
The two share a love of college football, especially Notre Dame, where Scott graduated from.

Meader is expecting the couple’s first child real soon–a future star softball player or golfer perhaps?

“It would be nice having an athletic child,” Meader admits. “We joke sometimes about what if the kid plays tennis or a sport we didn’t do? I don’t know if I could handle a sport I don’t know anything about. We’re just excited right now.”

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