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SKOWHEGAN — Taylor Johnson has been going to Skowhegan Area High School softball practices for much of her life. Her father, Lee, was an assistant coach for six years with the Indians before becoming head coach in 2000. Before Taylor was in school, she and her older sister Amanda would go to practice with dad.

“I remember watching them play big games at Cony. I remember all those rivalries,” Taylor Johnson said. “He talks about always bringing me to practice when I was little, about me always being a disturbance.”

Now Skowhegan’s senior first baseman, Taylor Johnson is only disturbing to the Indians’ opponents, and she has one practice and one game left. On Saturday, Skowhegan will take on Thornton Academy of Saco in the Class A state championship game. First pitch is at 4 p.m. at St. Joseph’s College in Standish.

Taylor leads the Indians with a .544 batting average and an on base percentage of .584. She has 20 runs batted in and has scored 20 more.

“Her offense has been huge this year. She makes a ton of contact, strikes out very little, and understands the game. Her defense has always been a strength of hers. She’s got a great arm, and receives the ball well (at first base),” coach Johnson said.

In the Eastern Maine championship, a 3-2 win over rival Cony, Taylor was 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles and a run batted in. Against Bangor in the regional semis, she hit three doubles in a 7-6 win. Early in the season, Taylor struggled at the plate, until her father told her to make a simple adjustment.

“It was my stride. I was getting really wide, and he told me to shorten it up. At the beginning of the season I was struggling, but when he told me to do that, I started hitting,” Taylor said.

Lee Johnson started working as an assistant to former Skowhegan softball coach Robin Esty before his daughters were born.

“They were around it all the time. We’d go play in summer tournaments, they’d be going camping with us when we’d be with the summer teams,” coach Johnson said.

Taylor said she looked forward to playing softball for her father, and the experience has been a good one.

“I love it. A lot of people say that it’s hard to play for a parent, because you bump heads. I guess we bump heads once in a while, but I love it. He’s harder on me sometimes, but only for the best. He’s trying to make me better,” Taylor said.

At home, the coach hat comes off.

“We try not to talk about the negative stuff too much after a game. We try to make sure we keep it pretty good for at least 24 hours,” coach Johnson said. “If something big happened, maybe we talk about it when we get home at night, if it’s something she wants to discuss, but usually we try to leave it to the next day… Taylor makes it easy. She follows my instructions, doesn’t give me any attitude.”

Added Taylor: “Right when we get home, we talk about the game, but he’s more of a dad there. He’ll tell me what I need to better or what I did good, but at home he’s mostly a dad.”

Taylor will attend Husson University next season, where she may join her sister Amanda, who recently completed her sophomore year, on the women’s basketball team.

“I always thought I would go there and play basketball. I think I’m going to try to play basketball, but I may try to play softball there, too,” Taylor said. “After this year, I don’t think I’ll be able to let it go.”

First, there’s Saturday’s state championship game.

“Our team this year, is the closest it’s been. All of us are friends. There’s no drama,” Taylor said. “There’s nothing to worry about other than playing the game.”

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

[email protected]

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM