By Collin Robinson
Taylor Dockins comes to Cal State Fullerton fresh off a historic senior season at Norco High School, where she started every single game and went a ridiculous 33-1 in the circle for the Cougars. In her 203 innings pitched, she struck out 183 hitters and sported an unbelievable 1.00 ERA. On top of being virtually unhittable in the circle, Dockins also hit .454 at the plate with two home runs and 27 RBI. She helped carry Norco to two titles, the Michelle Carew Classic and the Tournament of Champions, as well as runner-up in the CIF Southern-Section Championship.
But even more unbelievable than any stat can tell someone about her year, is that in the summer of 2016, prior to beginning the season, Dockins underwent surgery to remove a tumor as she battled a very rare form of liver cancer called fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma.
The original diagnosis came in June of 2016, but her problems started before then. "Eight months before I was diagnosed, I was having major stomach and back pain," Dockins said. "We kept going to the doctor's and all of my blood work and tests came back perfect so they had no idea what was wrong with me. They told me that since I was exhausted and fatigued that I was just dehydrated."
While traveling with her travel ball team to Colorado in June, the pain hit her hard and she knew something was seriously wrong. "My pain was so bad. I had a fever. I couldn't breathe. My eyes were so red like something had scratched them," Dockins described. "I knew something was catching up to me."
That night, she was rushed to the emergency room and the doctors took some blood work and ran some tests immediately. While initial thoughts were about her having problems with her gall bladder, her liver panel came back abnormal. Taylor went on to say, "I was rushed into a CAT scan and that's when they saw I had a tumor in my liver. It was about the size of two softballs put together, it was humungous."
Doctors knew the tumor had to be removed as soon as possible, so they asked if she wanted to do the surgery right there in Colorado or go back home to California. Taylor and her mother agreed they needed to go back so her father and the rest of her family could be there for it. "Right when we landed [back in California] we went straight to the Children's Center in Los Angeles and they sent us to Kaiser Sunset," Taylor explained. "And it was there the doctors figured out what they were going to do and how they would remove [the tumor].
The procedure was successful. The doctors said they had a two-inch margin and got everything removed from her liver. But obviously, she would have to continue to go back in for scans to make sure nothing would come back.
Taylor would go on to have her jaw-dropping senior season for Norco as mentioned earlier and win the Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year. She was presented with the award by softball legend, Jennie Finch in Dockins' favorite coffee shop in Corona, California (the video of that can be seen HERE). She also finished the season as the new record holder for most career wins (108) in CIF-Southern Section history.
Unfortunately, her tri-monthly scans were not as rewarding. This past June, a year after her original diagnosis, doctors discovered three more tumors, the largest being about the size of a baseball and the other two around two centimeters. The doctors were quick to get a plan to get them removed though, "I'm going in for a mapping with the Y-90 which is a radiation chemo treatment," Taylor described. "They're going to put a catheter into my groin and shoot in radiation which will hopefully kill or shrink the tumors, to get me ready for a liver transplant.
Not too long after that, Dockins was given great news as she was approved to be put on the liver transplant list July 13th. Doctors told her it would be three months at the latest, but it's important that Y-90 treatment shrinks the tumors otherwise it would be too much of a risk.
Through all of this, the right-handed pitcher has remained extremely positive and uses softball as a way to escape. "When I'm on the softball field, it's kind of my getaway from everything I'm going through. For seven innings when I'm on the field, all I think about is striking batters out and working with my girls to try and win the game." Dockins continued, "The cancer does not define me or the person who I am so going through this has put me in a positive mindset."
The So-Cal native will be putting on a uniform for Cal State Fullerton, a school she has called home for most of her life, this upcoming season. She went on to say, "It's always been my home. I went to the summer camps back when I was seven years old. I was a Titan Tuffy at one point. So it's just always been home for me."
The decision to come here was made even easier by Head Coach Kelly Ford and Associate Head Coach Jorge Araujo. "Back when I was nine-years old, I played for the Firecrackers [a travel softball team] and practiced with Coach Araujo's team all the time," Taylor elaborated. "So I've known him most of my life and love what he's about and who he is. And when we went and talked to Coach Ford, I just loved her enthusiasm and everything about her was just incredible."
Dockins comes in with high expectations and the goal of pitching in that final game of the Women's College World Series and cannot wait for the season to get started. She went on about the team, "I think all of us are going to work well together. I've started forming bonds with most of the girls on the team and I've already formed great bonds with the coaching staff. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm just so excited and want it to start already."
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