Colgate’s head coach Melissa Finley announced the hiring of Danielle Kaminaka to her softball coaching staff.
"Danielle brings valuable experience as a player and a coach from Loyola Marymount University, and I am really excited that she has chosen to join our staff,” Finley said.
Kaminaka was a three-time First Team All-Pacific Coast Softball Conference standout during her collegiate career at Loyola Marymount. While there, she earned Player of the Year status in 2004 after setting school records with 15 home runs and 49 RBI. That same year, Kaminaka was also named to the NFCA Pacific All-Region team.
She followed that up in her senior season by winning the PCSC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award and First Team Academic All-District honor. Kaminaka lifted LMU to its second conference title and the school’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.
Kaminaka’s name is well known in the LMU softball family after she dominated the season and career record books. She is first all-time at LMU in career doubles (43), home runs (47), runs batted in (149), and walks (110).
She also left the Lions as the career record holder in slugging percentage (.623), runs (140), and on-base percentage (.434). She holds four of the top 10 season home run tallies in school history while her .888 slugging percentage in 2004 still remains the best in program history.
After completing her bachelor's degree in English in 2005, Kaminaka spent two years teaching English in Japan. She returned to LMU as a graduate assistant coach from 2008-10 and earned her master's degree in English Literature from LMU in 2010.
