McGowans: All in the family at Bay Shore

At its heart, this is a simple story of a father and daughter.

Take away the fastballs, curveballs, foul balls, trophies, championships, accolades and awards, and you get Jim McGowan, dad, and Taylor McGowan, daughter, preparing to enter the final phase of their season together in Bay Shore softball.

"It's nice going out together," Taylor said. "We've been doing this together our whole lives -- him being the coach and me being the player."

Of course, it's never quite that simple. Not when the father is the winningest softball coach in New York history with 656 wins and counting in 29 years at Bay Shore, making his name nearly synonymous with the softball program.

It's never quite so simple to tell the family story when the daughter is a state champion who in her senior year was named the Suffolk Large School Pitcher of the Year and Large School Player of the Year. When the pitching circle was moved back three feet (to 43) this season, it caused growing pains for some pitchers around Long Island but Taylor thrived, actually increasing her strikeouts per game. She succeeded on the strength of an improved changeup and advanced pitching acumen.

"She has put all the time in in order to be a successful pitcher," Jim said. "She has a big heart and an uncommon work ethic. She has a lot of movement on her pitches, and you can't cheat her. She'll work both sides of the plate and she'll also work up and down. And she's smooth, so she can pitch forever."

But she can't pitch at Bay Shore forever, and Jim won't coach there forever. He acknowledged that part of the reason he chose this as his final year at the school -- he's also retiring from his job as a social worker at Bay Shore -- was to be there with his daughter for her senior year.

SEE PHOTOSNewsday's best high school photos

"I'd rather leave a couple years early than a couple years late," said Jim, the only person in state history to be the head coach of seven championship softball teams. "Taylor being a senior, I want to follow her in college."

Taylor will attend Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., a Division II program with a great softball reputation.

In a letter to Taylor welcoming her to the program, coach Michelle Frew said: "You have been a winner and a top player in the state. We believe that your winning attitude will carry over to our softball field."

Taylor is ready for the next step. "Pressure is something I've dealt with my whole life," she said. "I always knew that being 'Mr. McGowan's daughter,' all eyes were on me, and it's always 'Mr. McGowan's daughter this or that.' So I tried to make a name for myself and be known as 'Taylor.'

"I definitely struggle with it sometimes. Sometimes he annoys the heck out of me, and sometimes it's fun. But it's something I got used to. He's definitely harder on me, but it's for the best."

Said Jim: "I've made some mistakes as a father, I've made some mistakes as a coach. My passion, sometimes, will boil over to be maybe too intense. And it's always about that balance. I just want to make sure I take stock in what I'm doing as a coach and as a father and enjoying the whole process. And I'm having so much fun this year."

And with good reason. Bay Shore is in the midst of its third undefeated season under McGowan, and the two-time New York State coach of the year has secured his 29th winning record and 29th playoff appearance in 29 years.

But the stresses of continued softball domination seem to have been absent this year. Perhaps it's because, though they don't know just how the story will end, they know it is wrapping up. Perhaps it's a winner's ability to focus on the season. Perhaps it's just a father and daughter walking through life together.

"I think both of them enjoy the whole process," said Liz Pennino, Jim's assistant coach. "They've enjoyed climbing the mountain all these years together. So however they go out, they're going to go out winners because of how they treated all these years."