Coming off a nearly two-week break, a refreshed University of Hawaii softball team opened the Big West schedule with a 4-1 road win over UC Davis on Friday.

UH sophomore Brittany Hitchcock turned in a complete-game performance and middle infielders Breanna Ojala and Tayana Mata sparked the Rainbow Wahine offense in their return to Northern California.

Hitchcock gave up seven hits and struck out five and the Rainbow Wahine evened their overall record at 17-17. The Wahine offense backed her up with a four-run fourth inning highlighted by Ojala’s two-run single with two out.

“We were fresh, the kids were excited about playing again,” UH coach Bob Coolen said in a phone interview.

The series concludes today with a doubleheader starting at 10 a.m. Freshman Jennifer Iseri is scheduled to get the start in the first game, with Hitchcock available for the finale after throwing 126 pitches on Friday.

“Brittany did a good job. She was pretty much untouchable until the sixth inning,” Coolen said. “She was popping the ball and the first five innings didn’t test her that much. She got out of some jams late in the game, and she was just throwing a heavy ball. She got a lot of ground balls.”

After three scoreless innings, UH broke through in the top of the fourth after Keiki Carlos led off the inning with a walk and Heather Morales doubled to center field. Rachel Lack followed with a single to drive in Carlos with the game’s first run and Rachael Turner’s sacrifice fly scored pinch runner Sarah McAndrew from third.

“We made an adjustment in the fourth inning on their pitcher and that was the whole reason we had a big inning,” Coolen said. “We were letting her ball get too deep, so we moved to the front of the box and Heather hits one off the fence in dead center. Turner has a big RBI. We had a lot of contributors today.”

With runners on second and third and two out, Ojala, a junior shortstop from Napa, Calif., fell behind in the count before driving in both runners with a single into left field to give UH a 4-0 lead. Mata, a senior second baseman from Folsom, Calif., went 2-for-3 and scored on Ojala’s hit.

Hitchcock went 32⁄3 innings before giving up her first hit and stranded two runners on base in the fourth and fifth innings to take a shutout into the sixth inning.

UC Davis’ Taiya McInnes led off the bottom of the sixth with a single and advanced to third on a wild pitch and an error. She came in to score on Ashley Lotoszynski’s fielder’s choice, but Hitchcock got out of the inning with a popup and a strikeout and UCD left nine runners on base in the game.

BIG WEST SOFTBALL

Friday

Hawaii 4, UC Davis, 1

Today

Hawaii at UC Davis (DH), 10 a.m.

Long Beach State at CSUN (DH)

Cal Poly at UC Santa Barbara (DH)

UC Riverside at CS Fullerton (DH)

Sunday

UC Riverside at CS Fullerton

Cal Poly at UC Santa Barbara

Long Beach State at CSUN

Brittany Hitchcock and Rachel Lack. Andrea Reynolds, Sara Cardona (4) and Alexis Carney. W–Hitchcock. L–Reynolds.

Leading hitters–Hawaii: Heather Morales, 2B; Lack, RBI; Rachael Turner, RBI; Tayana Mata, 2-3; Breanna Ojala, 2 RBIs. UC Davis: Ashley Lotoszynski, 2-3, RBI; Christina Guidry, 2B.