Kaukauna's Karly Meredith pitches in the 2022 WIAA state softball tournament in Madison. KCN photo

KAUKAUNA — Karly Meredith is paying it forward by donating a grant awarded as Wisconsin’s Gatorade Softball Player of the Year to her hometown softball club.

Kaukauna Ghosts Fastpitch announced Friday on social media that Meredith was donating the $1,000 Gatorade Play It Forward grant to the club.

Gatorade Play It Forward works in collaboration with the Gatorade Player of the Year program that recognizes and celebrates the nation’s most outstanding high school student-athletes.

Gatorade Play It Forward lets each state Player of the Year to choose a local or national youth sports organization to receive a $1,000 grant from Gatorade.

Kaukauna Ghosts Fastpitch is a non-profit organization founded to promote the game of softball to girls in the Kaukauna Area School District.

Kaukauna Ghosts Fastpitch supports the club’s youth softball teams as well as the Kaukauna High School softball program. 

Meredith, a junior this fall at Kaukauna High School, helped lead the Ghosts to its third-in-a-row state softball championship this past spring.

She is a two-time Fox Valley Association softball player of the year and was recently named the Post-Crescent’s softball athlete of the year for the second straight season.

Meredith has volunteered locally as a youth softball pitching coach, and she has donated her time to multiple community service initiatives through her church.

In the classroom, Meredith has maintained a 3.96 GPA.



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By Dan Plutchak

Dan Plutchak, born and raised in Kaukauna, is cofounder of Kaukauna Community News.