‘Off the Wall’ Has More Than One Meaning for El Toro’s Juggert

Whether she is cracking a joke or a long triple, Maegan (Mae-Mae) Juggert often supplies the spark for the El Toro High School girls’ softball team.

“Maegan is a real unique kid,” El Toro Coach Jim Daugherty said. “She’s a real character and a fun-loving person. She has a reputation for being slightly off the wall.”

Juggert, a 17-year-old senior, is starting her fourth year behind the plate for the Chargers’ varsity team. Last year, she was awarded first-team All-South Coast League honors, hitting .267 and leading Orange County in triples with six.

“When we’re in tournaments, I like to meet the other team’s players,” Juggert said. “I’m kind of a people person.”

Juggert is also an expert on the care and feeding of young pitchers, especially those from the Laube family--Paige, who is now at North Carolina, and her sister, Misty, a sophomore on the El Toro varsity.

Paige pitched the Chargers to the Southern Section 3-A championship in 1990, and Misty had a 16-7 record last year, when El Toro finished 18-13 and was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

“I started out with Paige, and I’ve caught Misty since Bobby Sox,” Juggert said. “We’ve been friends for a long time. I don’t get mad at the pitchers. We joke around a lot, especially if the coaches come out and yell. We have our funny jokes and handshakes. We’ve grown up together and learned a lot together.”

Said Misty: “Because we’ve known each other for so long, it was easy making the adjustment to high school. Mae-Mae is a lot of fun. She lightens things up a lot. When she’s catching, she’ll be making a lot of weird sound effects. She makes playing a lot of fun.”

Daugherty said Juggert had good catching skills from Day 1 at El Toro.

“She handled the older pitchers well, including Paige during her junior and senior years. Paige had a unique style with 90% of her pitches rise balls. Maegan adjusted really well. She’s always done a good job blocking balls and blocking the plate.”

Juggert, who has been playing behind the plate since she was 8, says she likes being in the center of the action.

“I love catching. I have a lot of fun, and I get so excited when I’m going to make a play at the plate,” she said. “That’s one of my favorite parts of the game. I like contact and getting people out. I like to be able to think and call pitches. I’d get bored in the outfield.”

Juggert describes her hitting in her unique and colorful way.

“I had a terrible (nonleague season) last year, but when we got into league something happened,” she said. “I don’t believe I’m a power hitter, but I’ve developed names for my bats. My sophomore year, I called it The Weapon. It was The Weapon II, my junior year. This year, it started out as Secret Weapon, but I call it Lethal Weapon now that I’m using it all the time.”

Juggert is hoping she and Lethal Weapon can help return the Chargers to the league championship this spring. El Toro finished second to Irvine last season.

“Personally, I’d like to make first-team all-league again and feel I’ve done as well as I think I can do,” she said. “Right now, we have all kinds of injured players. If we get all our players back and Misty gets in the right mind-set, we should do real well.”

Juggert looks to her future with a whimsical sense of humor.

“I’m undecided about where I’m going to college,” she said. Although she plans to play softball, she would like to balance it with other activities.

“I want the college experience, but not the college-softball experience. There are a lot of side things I really enjoy doing, like dancing. I love to dance.”

Then with a playful wit, she explains: “I have a broad, diverse life.”