Knights’ Softball Team Not As Green As It Seems
By Jack Danilewicz
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With only 10 players on its roster, including a slew of freshmen, the Castle softball team looked last spring to be a year away from being a factor in the OIA Red East conference race. Then they went out and proved everyone wrong by going 11-5 against their OIA oppo- nents en route to making a state tournament appearance.
Whether or not they can repeat that now remains to be seen, but head coach Jon Berinobis knows one thing: His team won’t be out-worked.
“The returnees are understanding more what needs to be done, and they’re accepting of the work that has to be put in,“he said.“That’s the biggest difference from last year, and it’s made our practices better. You practice how you’ll play (in games).”
On paper, the Knights still look youthful,with four sophomores and a freshman in the lineup. In terms of game experience, however, Castle is a seasoned team and certainly far deeper than a year ago, with 17 players as opposed to last year’s 10. Above all, they took a 4-0 record into the weekend, having swept doubleheaders from Farrington and Kahuku to open Red East play. Castle was to return to action Tuesday at home against Moanalua. The teams meet again at Castle at 3 p.m. Saturday.
“We feel good about our chances against anyone in our league,”
Berinobis said.“As long as we continue to control what we do and not worry so much about what other teams do, we’ll be OK.”
Pitching has given Castle a big lift to date. In addition to welcoming back last year’s No. 1 pitcher, senior Chandelle Dacosin, they also boast up-and-coming sophomores Maycee Moe and Leisha Li’ili’i.
With the OIA’s new format of numerous doubleheaders, the coach had rotated between Chandelle Dacosin and Moe in the first two doubleheaders and is likely to continue so for the rest of the season. Li’ili’i is being groomed as a “closer.”
“Chandelle has been doing an excellent job for us. She’s the only senior returnee who is playing, so she brings leadership. Her savvyness on the field is her strength. She loves to play,and she works real hard to improve her play.
“Maycee has taken a more business-like approach this year, and she’s been a good surprise. She came back to improve herself, and she’s having a good year.
“Leisha’s strength is that she throws hard, and not just as a pitcher,” Berinobis said of Li’ili’i, who plays first base when not pitching. “She’s accurate, and she has natural throwing ability. As far as pitching goes, she’s improved a lot. She came back more controlled.”
Both Chandelle Dacosin and Moe play at third base when the other is on the mound, while Kaisha Dacosin, younger sister of Chandelle, is the team’s starting catcher.
One of the team’s big question marks in preseason was up the middle with the departure of Ryanne Dacosin and Kori Berinobis from last year’s team. To help fill the void, starting center fielder Kaitlynn Wills switched to second base, while freshman Brittiney Hawn has settled in at shortstop.Also,sophomore Brooke Ka’ulua’au has moved from left to center field.
“Kaitlynn has filled in real nice at second, and Brittiney plays with a lot of passion at shortstop, so they’ve solved the problem (of inexperience up the middle). Brooke has made us strong in center(field).”
With younger brother Jason Berinobis taking over the Castle baseball team this spring, Natasha Berinobis has taken more responsibility on a coaching staff that also includes “Pop"Berinobis, longtime pitching coach.
“Natasha’s been a big plus with her experience here (as a former Castle player) and at HPU (as a player),” Jon Berinobis said. “Pop has done a good job with our pitchers. They’re coming along.”
Castle plays Kailua at 10 a.m.April 11,to be shown live on OC-16. They play key doubleheaders versus Kaimuki (at home) April 11 and Roosevelt April 18.
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