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Watch out, Mainlanders: there’s a fast-rising softball organization from the 50th State that is already drawing raves for its talent and success over the last year.
The LK Black Hawaii 16U team (“LK” stands for “Lady Knights”) has been 98-22-5 over the last three years and has played up at 18U since 2019, but really put themselves on the map earlier this month at the talent-strong PGF AZ Winter Invitational.
Josh Danz’s team flew from Honolulu to Phoenix—the farthest the 2023 team has ever traveled to compete—but didn’t look any worse the wear.
Quite the opposite: the Hawaiians played against several of the best 16U teams in the nation at the Winter Invite and—despite not having played a single game for the previous six months due to Hawaii sports being shut down because of COVID—went 3-1 against four outstanding 16U teams what will play in the PGF Premier division this summer including two that are former PGF champs.
“Our only loss came on a walk-off two-run triple in the bottom of the 7th while leading by one run with two outs,” laments Coach Danz. But there was a bright spot out of the event: the PGF Nationals (2021) qualified team is now being considered for a Premier berth instead of a Platinum one.
“In 2020 we qualified as an at-large bid for PGF because of our overall season record and finishing as the #1 ranked 14U team per USA Preps,” Danz continues. “Sadly for us the, tournament was canceled due to COVID-19 but we were awarded an at-large bid for the 2021 PGF Nationals.
And there would be historical significance to that, adds the coach: “We would be the first full intact team from Hawaii to earn that right.”
Regarding the PGF event in Arizona, the Lady Knights were able to battle toe-to-toe against some of the big names in the softball world in attendance—Corona Angels Tyson, Hot Shots Nelson, Georgia Impact Lewis, Suncats Jimenez, Mercado Athletics—and Danz felt it was well worth the time, expense and travel.
“It was truly an amazing experience,” he adds. “Our team won over the respect of a lot of umpires, teams, and scouts as we had entered the tournament cold. In Hawaii we have been on lock down since July but got a lot of compliments for playing as well as we did against some of the best teams in the country with no game reps.”
And they’re talented too; while most of the former players on the four-year-old team who’ve graduated are playing in JC’s or D2’s, this 2023 class at the 16U level looks to be very special.
“The LK Black team will end up producing at least 10 out of 13 girls at the D1 level,” believes Coach Danz, “with the other three looking at D2 or D3 options.”
The organization itself is two decades old and was started by Jason Berinobis whose daughter, Jaylene Berinobis, is currently a key Club President and, keeping it in the family, is engaged to Coach Danz.
The LK Black team started in 2016 with Danz and coach Kenny Kong while Jaylene has helped run the overall organization. There are currently three players from the original team still on the squad and, year-by-year, LK Black—known as “LKB” on the Islands—has attracted more and more players at the elite level.
Currently the roster is made of 14 girls from seven different cities on the island of Oahu.
With a busy schedule that includes flying to the mainland multiple times this year, (all pending restrictions and quarantines being loosened, of course), LK Black will travel to Oregon for the Triple Crown Valley Invite, then Colorado for the Alliance/Triple Crown tournament, then potentially to California for the TC National Championships and, after that three week trip, will fly back to Hawaii.
After that, Coach Danz, with fingers crossed, says: “Hopefully we will be out of lockdown, play in the 16U state championships, then a week later fly back to California for the PGF National Championships, then back to Hawaii.”
Yes, that’s a lot of flying and it’s a marvel the Lady Knights can even stand up straight after all the miles across the Pacific Ocean. At least, their Frequent Flier miles are adding up.
“Traveling to the mainland is a lot of work and very time consuming,” Danz admits. “Since flights are expensive from Hawaii, the average cost per player is about $1,500 for each tournament and this doesn’t even include tournament fees—this is simply for flights, housing, and meals.”
But wait… there’s more: “Since Hawaii families love to support their daughters, most families travel with three in their party so it becomes pricey!
To cut the cost of flights, the team tries to strategize and hit multiple tournaments in the same area at one time, but that creates another problem.
“This is really hard on the parents to get that much time off,” the coach says. “As a team, we do not charge the players anything to play with the teams (except uniforms) because the girls need all the money they can save to travel. We are lucky enough to fundraise and also have sponsors—like Get Nutz Hawaii (featured on the front of the jerseys), Humble Roots Customz, A.I.N.A, The Cage and Everyday Better— that make up the money to pay for our season games and all the tournaments we travel to. It’s a very time-consuming task for us as coaches but we do everything for our girls.”
Coach Danz knows what it takes to get his players in Hawaii signed to athletic scholarships; he is a dual sport coach in softball and baseball after playing at Linfield College in Oregon where he competed in baseball and football and learned his softball coaching skills from 20-year-plus Head Coach Vaughn Jackson.
Explains his fiancée, Jaylene: “Josh has been asked to coach at high schools here in Hawaii but dedicates his skills to his LK Black 16U travel team.”
And that’s just one of his many hats worn that benefits the up-and-coming athletes in Hawaii. Coach Josh also runs a private training facility in Kaneohe that has seven batting tunnels, an agility room, a study hall classroom and a college recruiting office for Hawaii student-athletes.
The facility, known as “The Cage,” has “helped me and the players elevate their games and education levels,” Coach Danz says. “The best accomplishment so far that I’m proud of this team for is we are the first all-Hawaii (player) travel team to qualify for the biggest tournaments in the sport of softball in the same year. We also have four past 12U All-Americans on the team.”
“In tournaments,” the former collegiate athlete continues, “we are probably one of the only teams that you will ever see rotate positions every inning including during bracket play. Winning the USA Hawaii Championships five times and placing second four more times as well as being ranked the top 14U team for 2019 by USA Preps are some of our most proud accomplishments.”
While the organization continues to win and impress on and off the fields, the heads of the LK Black Hawaii program—which includes Josh Danz, Jaylene Berinobis, Jason Berinobis, Kenneth Kong and Burt Leopoldo—still have a lot to achieve, they admit.
“The sole purpose of this team,” Danz explains, “is to get the girls the proper looks that they deserve and get scholarships in college to better their lives. Being from Hawaii, there are no real recruiting services or opportunities for the girls. Most Hawaii top players go to the Mainland to play with big clubs and teams for tournaments or summers.”
“This team, however, is full of players that could play on the best teams across the country, but we all came together, from all over Oahu, to form a team that could defeat the odds. This team is here to do it as a full Hawaii team, and compete against the best to show colleges that there are top level softball players here in Hawaii. With God on our side and guiding this team in Hawaii, we look forward to the future of this team’s success.”
While Danz takes care of many of the on-field duties, Jaylene—or Coach “Jay Jay” as the players call her—is in charge of all monies, permits, fields, practices, schedules, paperwork and licensing for the non-profit. It’s been a productive partnership and with a daughter playing softball on the team, the two look to continue the journey off the field as well.
“Jaylene is the backbone behind the scenes when she is not helping to run the LK Black team,” her admiring co-coach and future husband says. “We are set to be married in December of 2022… once all of our traveling slows down!”
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Below is a look at each member of the LK Black Hawaii team with comments from Coach Danz…