Danielle Kaminaka completed her 11th season as an assistant coach at Sacramento State in 2024, and has 17 years of collegiate coaching experience. She completed her second year as the program’s associate head coach in 2024.
Kaminaka is heavily involved with coaching the hitters while also working with the infielders, overseeing the team’s academics and youth camps, and assisting with recruiting.
During her 11-year tenure at Sacramento State, the Hornets have combined for a 278-245-2 overall record and a 112-66 mark in the Big Sky Conference.
Kaminaka has helped Sacramento State to Big Sky championships twice in the last six completed seasons (the 2020 season was not finished because of the pandemic). That includes a 2023 regular season title.
In fact, the Hornets have finished third place or better in the league standings in nine of her 10 completed seasons. That includes a second place finish in 2024 - a season that saw the team finish 28-20 overall and 7-4 in Big Sky play. The 2024 season also saw the Hornets compile a .290 team batting average, the second best mark in the Big Sky. Five Hornets finished the season with batting averages above .300.
Sacramento State has posted at least 27 wins three straight seasons, and five of the last six. The 2023 squad finished 27-20 overall, 10-5 in the Big Sky, and claimed a share of the Big Sky regular season title.
Kaminaka was part of a coaching staff that guided the Hornets to the 2018 Big Sky Conference regular season and tournament championships while qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. Sacramento State, which finished the season 31-20 overall and 14-7 in league, won its first Big Sky title since the league began sponsoring softball in 2013. In addition, the NCAA Tournament appearance was the program’s first since 2008, and the fourth since Sacramento State became a Div. I member in 1990.
Over the last 11 years, the Hornets have posted top three Div. I era single-season marks in virtually every offensive category, including a program-record 55 home runs in 2022. That mark shattered the previous school record of 45, set in 2017.
At least four Hornets have hit .299 or better during 10 of Kaminaka’s 11 seasons, including seven players in 2023. Sacramento State had a program-record three players - Lewa Day, Marissa Bertuccio, Lexie Webb - named all-region in 2022.
Academically, 18 Hornets from the 2024 team had grade point averages above a 3.0. Eleven of those have better than a 3.5. In fact, the team currently has an overall grade point average of 3.27.
Kaminaka, who played four years at Loyola Marymount, also had assistant coaching stops at Colgate (2013) and Loyola Marymount (2009-12). She was an assistant coach with her alma mater in 2011 and 2012, and a graduate assistant in 2009 and 2010.
As an assistant at Loyola Marymount, she helped coach the team to a combined 110 wins over four seasons, including two years with at least 32 victories. The Lions went 45-35 in conference play over that span, including a 16-4 league mark in 2011.
Prior to Loyola Marymount, she coached one season at Southwestern Community College (Chula Vista, Calif.) in 2008 where the team made a 12-game improvement in conference play to 14-2 after the team had gone 2-12 in 2007.
The Vista, Calif., native was a four-year starting third baseman at Loyola Marymount (2002-05) where she broke into the Lions’ record book in a big way. A three-time first team all-Pacific Coast Softball Conference performer during her career, she was the PCSC Player of the Year and a second team NFCA all-Pacific Region selection in 2004 after she set the then-school record with 15 home runs and 49 RBIs.
As a senior in 2005, she won the PCSC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award and was a first team academic all-district selection after leading the squad to a 34-20 overall record, a 16-4 PCSC mark and the school’s first-ever NCAA Regional appearance.
During her four seasons as a player, the Lions combined for a 138-87 overall record and 58-25 conference mark. A career .326 hitter, she left Loyola Marymount ranked among the top eight players in program history in 11 different categories - second in career home runs (47), doubles (43), walks (110), slugging percentage (.623) and on-base percentage (.434), as well as third in RBIs (149).
Kaminaka had her number retired (#35) by Loyola Marymount in 2015.
She received both her master’s degree (2010) and bachelor’s degree (2005) in English Literature at Loyola Marymount.
