This is Brentt Eads of Line Drive Softball…. a week from today is Thanksgiving and the week leading up to the holiday is always a reflective one for me.

First, I think of my parents—who are both gone now—and how I miss them greatly.

I was texting with a softball mom this morning and we touched on how her mother died in June of this year. We discussed what it’s like to go through these first holidays, particularly the Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year’s Day weeks, when you first lose a loved one and how tough that can be.

That thought led me to think of Rick and Debi Dockins, the parents of softball pitcher Taylor Dockins, who died this summer way too soon at the tender age of just 25 due to liver cancer, and how it must be a painful time for them and all who knew and loved Taylor… me included.

I was privileged and blessed to get to know and cover Taylor from her wonderfully successful softball days with the SoCal Choppers and also at Norco (Calif.) High, where she accomplished something that—if it was made into a Hollywood movie, it might be deemed as too emotional or hard to believe.

In 2017, a year after being diagnosed with fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma, a rare liver cancer, Taylor won the Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year award after leading Norco (Calif.) High to the Southern Section Div. I title game with a pitching record of 33-1, a 1.00 ERA, 183 K’s in 203 innings pitched and, offensively, a .454 batting mark with 27 RBIs.

Here’s a quick video clip I shot with Taylor in the July of 2017 when she got the go-ahead to play in the PGF All-American Games:

Post-high school, Taylor would go on to pitch in 40 games for Cal State Fullerton, but ultimately would have to miss her last two seasons because of the need for more surgeries and chemo treatments.

In 2021, she received a liver transplant, but the cancer returned and three years later—this past June (2024)—Taylor would lose her fight with the insidious disease.

Of course, a beautifully radiant personality and light in life like Taylor should never leave us so young, but with time and happy remembrances we can be uplifted by having had her in our lives.

I will always remember her constant smile and shining eyes.

This Thanksgiving, I am grateful for my family, including my wonderful new wife Shannon, our 11 combined kids (and multiple grandkids!) and all our supportive friends, too.

In quieter moments, I am appreciative of my media career and, especially, how wonderful the people in softball are—particularly the athletes. Some, like Taylor, I got to know better than others but will forever be thankful of the time I got to know her on and off the fields of competition.

Like the best things in our life, Taylor was an inspiration and made me want to be a better person because of her example.

Her courage and battles for her and her family helped me appreciate my blessings and, for that, I’ll always remember her fondly and look to share her inspiring story with future generations as much as I can.

Finally, kudos to Head Coach Kelly Ford at Fullerton for creating a way for her players to forever be #taylorstrong:

New tradition…every time you go in/out of the locker room you touch the Taylor decal to remind ourselves how lucky we are to be out on the field competing and to play like Tay….gritty, like a warrior, humble….Taylor Dockins Style! ⁦@Fullerton_SB⁩ #titanpride pic.twitter.com/8JpyYj18Pc

— Kelly Ford (@CoachKellyFord) August 14, 2023

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Softball
Brentt.Eads@LineDriveMedia.com

*****

Taylor Dockins, 2016-2017 Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year, Dies from Cancer

Original article published June 3, 2024

One of the most beloved softball figures in the last decade, Taylor Dockins—a record-setting high school pitcher at Norco (Calif.) High and the 2016-2017 Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year—passed away from a rare form of cancer.

The news was released by several sources including from the college program, Cal State Fullerton, she competed for:

We are saddened to hear the passing of Titan alum Taylor Dockins. Taylor was truly an angel, a sister, a humble warrior and remains a Titan forever. We will carry her spirit with us and honor her every time we put on a Titans uniform. #TusksUp | #PlayLikeTay pic.twitter.com/PXHHvxMLrs

— Titans Softball (@Fullerton_SB) June 3, 2024

In her early years in club softball, Taylor won a PGF National Championship with Team Mizuno-Campbell 14U in 2013 and an ASA National Championship with the 10U Firecrackers-Quarles team in 2010.

In the Summer of 2016, Taylor, a Class of 2017 pitcher for the So Cal Choppers-Fausett club team, was in Colorado playing in the Boulder IDT when she fell ill.

On Friday July 1^st, Taylor’s mother Debi and Coach Dean Fausett, head coach for the Choppers 18U team, rushed Taylor to the emergency room as she was writhing in severe pain.

That night Taylor was diagnosed with a possible cancerous tumor in her liver and a spot on her lung.

Quickly she was rushed into surgery and the tumor was successfully removed and sent out for biopsy.

In August of 2016, I (Brentt Eads) was working at FloSoftball and asked Taylor to tell her story in her own words… Click HERE to read what she wrote.

The athlete was able to return to Norco High for her senior campaign in 2017 and set a California state record with 33 straight wins and finished her prep career as the CIF – Southern Section leader in wins with 108.

Capping an amazing return to the fields, Taylor was honored to win the Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year award on June 5, 2017, and found out in a fun way as softball great Jennie Finch surprised Taylor at the young athlete’s favorite coffee shop with the award.

Here’s a video of that happy moment:

The rare form of liver cancer Taylor contracted went into submission, but it never totally went away and she was hospitalized several times in the subsequent years and, sadly, on Sunday (June 2, 2024), Taylor passed.

Within the last year, a wonderful video covering Taylor’s journey was released titled “Anchor of My Soul… Taylor recapped the story in her own words and gets emotional talking about her religious perspective of her situation and her relationship with her parents, Rick and Debi Dockins.

It is very emotional and powerful and represented the beauty of Taylor’s soul and the always present radiant smile and sparkle in her eyes that lifted up everyone she met.

The video ends:

“Cancer does not win if we die. It wins if we fail to cherish Christ.”

On behalf of everyone at Line Drive Media, we extend our love and prayers to the Dockins’ family and wish them solace but also the ability to smile whenever this special young person is remembered…

… for her softball successes, sure, but most importantly for the light and love she was in the lives of everyone who knew Taylor.

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Softball