Norco’s Taylor Dockins has been chosen the USAToday.com National Softball Player of the Year. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Norco softball pitcher Taylor Dockins receives flowers for Senior Day, along with parents Rick and Debi, prior to the softball game against Centennial in a Big VIII League game in Norco on Tuesday, May 9, 2017. Dockins set the CIF-Southern Section record for career wins as Norco defeated Centennial 5-1. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Norco softball pitcher Taylor Dockins during softball game against Centennial in a Big VIII League game in Norco on Tuesday, May 9, 2017. Dockins set the CIF-Southern Section record for career wins as Norco defeated Centennial, 5-1. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Norco softball pitcher Taylor Dockins looks out from the dugout during softball game against Centennial in a Big VIII League game in Norco on Tuesday, May 9, 2017. Dockins set the CIF-Southern Section record for career wins as Norco defeated Centennial, 5-1. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Norco pitcher Taylor Dockins is the HSGameTime Softball Player of the Year. Dockins, who returned to the field after being diagnosed with liver cancer, went 33-1 as a senior and also set the CIF-Southern Section record with 108 career wins. (TERRY PIERSON,THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE/SCNG)
Norco pitcher Taylor Dockins is the HSGameTime Softball Player of the Year. Dockins, who returned to the field after being diagnosed with liver cancer, went 33-1 as a senior and also set the CIF-Southern Section record with 108 career wins. (TERRY PIERSON,THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE/SCNG)
Norco’s Taylor Dockins throws a pitch against Grand Terrace during their Division 1 softball semifinal game on Tuesday, May 30, 2017 in Norco.
(Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Norco High School softball player Taylor Dockins, left, and two-time Olympian Jennie Finch after Dockins won the Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year on Wednesday, June 7, 2017 at Xpresso Urban Cafe in Corona.
(Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Norco High School softball player Taylor Dockins has a laugh during a photo shoot after winning the Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year on Wednesday, June 7, 2017 at Xpresso Urban Cafe in Corona.
(Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Norco High School softball player Taylor Dockins, left, has a moment with two-time Olympian Jennie Finch after she was on hand with surprising Dockins’ with the Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year award on Wednesday, June 7, 2017 at Xpresso Urban Cafe in Corona.
(Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Norco pitcher Taylor Dockins is the HSGameTime Softball Player of the Year. Dockins, who returned to the field after being diagnosed with liver cancer, went 33-1 as a senior and also set the CIF-Southern Section record with 108 career wins. (TERRY PIERSON,THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE/SCNG)
Norco pitcher Taylor Dockins is the HSGameTime Softball Player of the Year. Dockins, who returned to the field after being diagnosed with liver cancer, went 33-1 as a senior and also set the CIF-Southern Section record with 108 career wins. (TERRY PIERSON,THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE/SCNG)
Norco pitcher Taylor Dockins is the HSGameTime Softball Player of the Year. Dockins, who returned to the field after being diagnosed with liver cancer, went 33-1 as a senior and also set the CIF-Southern Section record with 108 career wins. (TERRY PIERSON,THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE/SCNG)
Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG
Norco pitcher Taylor Dockins is the HSGameTime Softball Player of the Year. Dockins, who returned to the field after being diagnosed with liver cancer, went 33-1 as a senior and also set the CIF-Southern Section record with 108 career wins. (TERRY PIERSON,THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE/SCNG)
Norco pitcher Taylor Dockins is the HSGameTime Softball Player of the Year. Dockins, who returned to the field after being diagnosed with liver cancer, went 33-1 as a senior and also set the CIF-Southern Section record with 108 career wins. (TERRY PIERSON,THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE/SCNG)
Norco’s pitcher Taylor Dockins pitches against Centennial in the 4th inning during the Big VIII League game in Norco on Tuesday, May 9, 2017. Dockins sets the CIF-Southern Section record for career for 104th wins as Norco defeats Centennial 5-1. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Taylor Dockins, the softball star who recently graduated from Norco, does an interview on the red carpet before the ESPYS in Los Angeles. (Photo courtesy of Gatorade)
CSUF starting pitcher Taylor Dockins delivers a pitch during Friday’s game against UC Santa Barbara. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, contributing photographer)
Taylor Dockins and her father Rick get emotional while watching a video tribute on the scoreboard before a game. Taylor has been battling a rare form of liver cancer for more than two years. She was recognized during the game. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, contributing photographer)
CSUF starting pitcher Taylor Dockins delivers a pitch during a game against UC Santa Barbara. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, contributing photographer)
Taylor Dockins, CSUF sophomore pitcher, will receive the Judi Garman Determination award on Jan. 26. The award is a lifetime achievement award given to people who have made a long-lasting impact on the Cal State Fullerton softball program. Dockins is undergoing treatment for a rare form of liver cancer.
(Photo by Michael Fernandez, Contributing Photographer)
Taylor Dockins gets a hug from her parents Debi and Rick Dockins before Cal State Fullerton’s game against UC Santa Barbara Friday. Taylor has been battling a rare form of liver cancer for the past two years. She was recognized during the game. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, contributing photographer)
Cal State Fullerton pitcher Taylor Dockins during an NCAA softball game against Hawaii on Saturday, April 20, 2019 in Fullerton, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
CSUF starting pitcher Taylor Dockins delivers a pitch during Friday’s game against UC Santa Barbara. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, contributing photographer)
CSUF softball player Taylor Dockins and assistant Gabby Rodas bow to each other before Friday’s game. Taylor has been battling a rare form of liver cancer for the past two years. She was recognized during the game. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, contributing photographer)
Cal State Fullerton took on UC Santa Barbara in softball on Friday. Fullerton’s freshman pitcher Taylor Dockins has been battling a rare form of liver cancer for the past two years. She was recognized during the game Friday. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, contributing photographer)
Dockins set numerous pitching records during her four seasons at Norco High School. She finished her career with 108 victories, breaking the previous CIF Southern Section record of 103 wins set by Mission Viejo’s Taylor McQuillin. Dockins was in the circle when Norco claimed the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship in 2015. However, it was her performance throughout her senior season that captivated the softball world. It was a season that almost didn’t happen.
In July of 2016, Dockins was flying to Colorado to play in a tournament with her travel ball team, the SoCal Choppers. She began having sharp stomach pains on the flight and later was rushed to a hospital when those pains increased. An MRI and CT scan revealed she had a mass on her liver and a spot on her lung. Dockins later was diagnosed with fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma, a rare liver cancer that affects 1 in 5 million in the population at large.
Her story spread on social media, and the softball community offered support and words of encouragement with the hashtags #PlayForTay, #PrayForTay and #TaylorStrong. Choppers coach Dean Fausett ordered rubber bracelets with those hashtags and several coaches and players began wearing them, including members of the USA National Team.
Dockins underwent surgery to remove the five-inch tumor, but tests showed a vascular invasion, meaning the cancer had broken into the vessels. She had to be tested every two months to make sure the cancer had not spread further. Dockins twice returned to the hospital because of infections. And in late October that year, three organs, including her heart, began to fail after a drain to relieve a biliary leak was removed. But Dockins was back on the field two weeks later to start building her strength and stamina.
When the 2017 season opener rolled around in March, Dockins was inside the circle for the Cougars. And she would go on to deliver one of the most memorable seasons in state history. Dockins started every game in the circle and posted a 33-1 record with a 1.00 ERA and 183 strikeouts in 203 innings, and she also batted .454 with two home runs and 27 RBIs. Dockins helped Norco win the championships at the Dave Kops Tournament of Championship and Michelle Carew Classic, and the Cougars were the nation’s top-ranked team for 12 weeks. Norco finished as the Division 1 runner-up that season.
“Taylor had that bulldog mentality and always found a way to put up a good fight,” Norco softball coach Rick Robinson said about Dockins earlier this week. “That drive you saw in her as a player was the same she had in fighting this disease. She always kept a positive outlook and led by example. She handled it better than myself or 99% of the world ever would have been able to.”
Dockins earned several prestigious awards that year, including USA Today’s and Gatorade’s National Player of the Year honors, making her the only Inland softball player to win those awards. The Gatorade Player of the Year award was presented to Dockins by Jennie Finch, a fellow pitcher, a two-time Olympian and one the most recognizable softball players in the world.
“It is incredible what she has been able to do,” Finch said after presenting Dockins with the Gatorade Player of the Year trophy. “To think that just a year ago she was diagnosed with cancer, and then she had the surgery and the recovery. I think it’s a miracle that she was able to get back as fast as she did. And then to accomplish what she did was amazing.”
Norco’s softball program has never retired a jersey number, but no player has worn No. 16 since Dockins graduated in 2017.
Dockins continued to experience setbacks but was determined to keep playing. She made 40 appearances for the Cal State Fullerton softball team between the 2018 and 2019 seasons, posting a 13-9 record. She was unable to play for the Titans during her junior and senior seasons because of chemotherapy treatments and additional surgeries.
Dockins underwent a liver transplant in Pittsburgh in October of 2021, but the cancer returned less than two years later. Dockins was admitted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s intensive care unit on May 29 after another setback.
Cal State Fullerton softball’s X account was one of the first to share the news of Dockins’ passing Sunday afternoon.
“She was one of the most fierce Titans to ever wear the uniform and fought cancer the way she played the game,” Titans coach Kelly Ford wrote in the posting. “To my humble warrior in heaven… Taylor, we were all so blessed to be on that field with you, know you in the special way we did and watch the battle with never-ending fight and grace.”
And the tributes to Dockins immediately poured in on social media accounts from members of the softball community.
“I am absolutely gutted. The softball world lost the brightest light!” Tori Tyson, a former Corona High School standout and current Howard University head coach, posted on X. “Taylor was 1 of the most special humans our sport has ever been blessed with. You left this world better than you found it.”
Allie Waljasper, who was an All-American pitcher at LSU and a former member of Team USA, posted this on her X account:
“My heart is so sad. A true inspiration and FIGHTER.” posted Walljasper, who now is the pitching coach at Boise State. “Taylor made an impact on everyone. Her story will forever be told. And her legacy will never be forgotten.”
Cal State Fullerton held a candlelight vigil for Dockins at Anderson Family Field on Wednesday evening.
Dockins’ parents, Rick and Debi, posted on Facebook that a celebration of life in California is being planned for later this month (June 26 or 27). Another celebration of life will take place in Tennessee in July.
