Former Daviess County Lady Panther Lauren Johnson has been on fire for the 11-0 Kentucky Wildcats this season but with UK missing out on last year’s postseason, Johnson and the rest of the Wildcats are hungrier than ever.
Johnson is a senior for Kentucky this season and is currently hitting .500 with hits in 10-of-11 games so far this year. She also has 17 RBIs, 11 runs and 7 walks on the season.
For the former Panther standout, Johnson was just looking forward to getting back on the field this season.
“I was so ready,” she said. “I was getting tired of sitting at home. Just having that long to sit at home and focus and work on your game, it gets you so excited to see that hard work pay off.”
The hard work Johnson and the rest of her team have done has worked out so far as they’re currently 11th in the country and one of nine SEC teams ranked in the top 25.
Johnson said the last four years have gone by fast but her time in Lexington has been good.
“The last four years have been great and I think each year you kind of build on top off of what you learned the previous year,” she said. “Whether that be the mental game of it and also your softball capabilities. You just kind of learn game to game and then from season, you kind of take all the obstacles you face the year before and learn how to handle that.”
Johnson played in two KHSAA State Softball Tournaments during her time at Daviess County and it was during her four years as a Panther that made her the player and person she is today.
She said she owes a lot to DC coach John Biggs and assistant Courtney Biggs.
“I feel like Daviess County played a huge part in my success,” she said. “Courtney Biggs and coach (John) Biggs, they have turned so many players, they’ve taken it to the next level. They build confidence in every single player. For me, I knew if I had a bad game, coach Biggs and Courtney, they’d be there and they’d ensure everyone you’re playing to your best ability and I just learned so much from them. Not just being a softball player but as a person. They definitely build strong women.”
Kentucky was 20-4 last season when Johnson’s junior season was cut short due to Covid-19.
She said they expect big things from their squad this year.
“I think, especially this year, we have so many people who know how to play their game,” she said. “If one person is off their game then the next person is the lineup is going to build them up and not take over but they know this person might not be doing too good today so I need to step up.
“For me personally, I know if I’m not playing my best game, my teams, they’re going to be there and they’re going to pick me up. I think that’s really helped our team and the atmosphere we’ve created has really made it great to play in. I think that’s built up everyone’s confidence.”
Johnson hit .242 her freshman year then exploded more than 100 points and hit .345 her sophomore season as she started 56-of-59 games for the Wildcats.
For Johnson, this season is the culmination of everything she’s worked for and the confidence is apparent anytime she steps onto the field.
“I got a lot of my confidence from experience,” she said. “Going through four years, you kind of learn just how to carry yourself and my mental game is definitely a lot better. Also, with the quarantine, I got to perfect my game and really focus on what I need to do and that got me in the right confidence and headspace to play my game and not think about anything.”
Not only was Johnson a standout for the Panthers, she was also a standout for her travel team during her time at Daviess County.
Even after playing at a high level for several years, Johnson admitted the college game was still something to get used to.
“Going in, you know the competition. It’s definitely going to be amazing because with us being in the SEC, one of the best conferences in the country, but once you finally get to playing those teams, it’s the speed of the game,” she said. “It’s so much faster.
“There’s constantly stuff going and there’s little things that maybe people in high school or travel ball didn’t do and so you’re playing against teams where everyone on that team was the best on their travel ball team or the best on their high school. You’re playing against the best players in the country all the time.”
Johnson isn’t the only player from western Kentucky making her mark in the SEC as former Madisonville-North Hopkins standout Mallory Tow has been tearing it up from the Alabama Crimson Tide the last couple of seasons.
Tow was most recently the SEC Softball Player of the Week.
With the number of players from WKY playing high-level softball, Johnson said it was a great place to play.
“I just think of how competitive it is,” she said. “I think the western side of the state is just built different. We have so many girls that push themselves so hard and have made it to big SEC or Division I schools. I think it’s so cool to see, even in the state tournament, a lot of the teams who make it pretty far are the western teams. I think that’s very impressive how we’ve all competed against each other.”
When asked what advice she had for younger players, Johnson said to dream big. While many major softball players have come from California, Texas and a few other states, Johnson said talent can be found anywhere and be from anywhere.
“No goal is too big,” she said. “Coming from Kentucky or a smaller city, sometimes people are like ‘oh, you dream of going to an SEC school. That’s a really big goal.’ But I think your goals should be big. There should be stuff you aim for.”
