Golden Valley High senior Grayson Dockstader does his best not to overthink when he’s on the mound. To help him do that, the right-hander will often hum a song in his head during the game. On Wednesday, it was Morgan Wallen. “It’s always Morgan Wallen,” Dockstader said.

 

Dockstader picked the right tune as he hurled a complete game shutout as the Cougars defeated Livingston 10-0 to earn their first win in the 65th Fran Oneto Atwater-Winton Lions Easter Baseball Tournament. “I find a little song and hum it in my head and I try my best,” Dockstader said. “I try to focus on one pitch at a time. I try not to worry about the last one.”

The right-hander struck out five and surrendered five hits and just one walk in five innings of work. The game was stopped after five innings due to the 10-run mercy rule. “Today we played with a lot of energy,” said Golden Valley coach Greg Euker, whose team returned from a Florida trip last week to play in the Atwater Easter tourney. “We won with Grayson on the mound in Florida too. Our guys love playing behind him. He throws a ton of strikes. He competes in the zone, he mixes well, but the main thing is he doesn’t walk many guys.”

 

Golden Valley broke the game open with an eight-run second inning as the Cougars took advantage of some Livingston miscues in the form of three errors, two hit batters and a walk. The key hit in the inning was a two-run single by Tarun Thiara. 

 

The Cougars dugout came alive during the rally as they celebrated each run by greeting their teammate when he returned to the dugout as they sent 11 hitters to the plate during the inning. Dockstader says it’s a tight-knit team who enjoy playing together. “We’ve done lots of team bonding,” he said. “We’ve known each other throughout the four years of high school. We know each other outside the baseball field so to get together and play with each other, we’re friends, teammates and brothers.”

Brayden Euker helped lead the Cougars’ 10-hit attack with two hits and two runs scored. Julian Ramirez went 1-for-2 with a run and an RBI. Meanwhile, Dockstader remained in control from start to finish on the mound. Dockstader says he enjoys it when it’s his turn to take the mound. “I just go out there and try to perform to the best of my abilities,” he said. “I’m not a guy who is going to strike out every guy. I know my guys have my back.

 

The Cougars will be back in action today on the final day of the tournament at 1 p.m. against Ripon. Livingston will finish up the tournament at 10 a.m. against Hayward. Greg Euker says he’d like to see the same energy from his team going forward. “I’d like to see what we saw today,” Euker said. “Playing together, competing every pitch, being competitive in the zone. When we have that effort on the mound we can compete.”

Atwater 8, Ripon 3 – The Falcons punched their ticket into Thursday night’s championship game after winning their third game of the tournament. Atwater will play Edison of Stockton at 7 p.m. tonight for the tournament title.

 

Logan Sanchez led the Falcons offense with two hits and three RBIs. Vinny Valladao added a double and two RBIs and Mathias Cole collected two hits. Brandon Vargas picked up the win, pitching into the sixth inning and racking up 11 strikeouts. Vargas gave up two runs on five hits and three walks.

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.