MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Soddy-Daisy softball player Taylor Wilson is about as tough as they come.
It’s not just because she’s a catcher. It has more to do about what she’s already dealt with in life.
It’s been a particularly difficult senior year as she helped the Lady Trojans earn another TSSAA state championship in a loaded Class AAA bracket.
Wilson lost her biggest supporter when her father, Alan, died of a massive heart attack Dec. 5 at age 44. His good friend Junior Lasley, whose daughter Brandi plays third base for Soddy-Daisy and is a classmate of Taylor’s, said Alan loved all the players, his daughter’s closest friends, as if they were his own.
“He was probably the biggest Soddy-Daisy softball fan there was,” said Rhonda Wilson, who can be seen commemorating her late husband at games by wearing around her neck the dog tags from his days in the U.S. Army.
Taylor began playing softball when she was 5. Some of her teammates then are teammates now.
As a youth she spent summers playing for the Soddy-Daisy Impact. The head coach was Toby Ward. His daughter, Brooke, is Soddy-Daisy’s right fielder. Alan loved helping out.
Taylor’s toughness received a major test when she was 11 and diagnosed with childhood diabetes. The Wilsons immediately sought all the information they could about the disease.
“He learned the book like that,” Rhonda said, implying a snap of the fingers.
Taylor still was a pre-teen when she began experiencing problems with her eyes. Again her dad was there to offer his support, and particularly his time.
“When I started wearing contacts, we worked hard in the yard,” Taylor said. “My hitting had gotten off. We spent hours.”
Jokingly some say Taylor has been toughened even more by playing seven seasons for Lady Trojans coach Clifford Kirk — including three at Soddy-Daisy Middle School. She’s particularly made some valuable offensive contributions this postseason, but it’s her work behind the plate that Kirk appreciates most.
“I think she handles the pitchers really well,” Kirk said. “It seems like my pitchers throw better to her than they do any other catcher I’ve got. She can throw you out, and she’s very heads-up on what we’re trying to do. I call the pitches and the plays. We change our signs around a lot, and she’s very good at keeping up with that. I get exactly from her what I want.”
Tennessee Wesleyan College will be getting Taylor’s services next year. She, Ward and Lasley signed together at a ceremony at their high school earlier this spring.
“He’d have loved to have been there,” Junior Lasley said of Alan. “He’d have been right in the middle of everything.”
Last year the Lady Trojans lost to eventual champion Riverdale in a state sectional, which was the last Soddy-Daisy game Alan would attend. The feeling among the Soddy-Daisy faithful, however, is that it wasn’t the last game of Taylor’s he would see. He just had a different view this year.
“That was his baby girl,” Rhonda said. “That was the love of his life.”
