Last year’s newcomers have cycled into this season’s mentors.

It was just about 12 months ago that Brittany Hitchcock and Kanani Aina Cabrales made their debuts with the University of Hawaii softball program. With a year of experience and 31 wins behind them, the duo returns this spring as the leaders of the Rainbow Wahine pitching staff.

Hitchcock, a sophomore, will take the ball when the Wahine open the season Thursday against Saint Mary’s in the Oceanic Time Warner Cable Paradise Classic. Aina Cabrales is set to make her first start of her junior year on Friday in UH’s doubleheader against Ole Miss and UMKC.

The right-handers anchor a staff that also returns junior Heather Morales, who will start at first base, and adds freshmen Jennifer Iseri and Naomi Monahan to the mix as head coach Bob Coolen enters his 25th year at UH.

“Last year for Nani and I both it was our first year here, so now having that experience we can use what we learned and pass that on to the freshmen,” Hitchcock said. “I’ve been trying to talk with them during or after practice about what we worked on and really try to build a pitching staff here and have that depth.”

While helping the freshmen acclimate to Division I softball, Hitchcock is working to build on an 18-7 season with a 2.37 earned-run average. She finished the year with a 9-2 run in Big West play to earn places on the all-conference second team and the All-Freshman team in her comeback from back surgery that forced her to redshirt the 2014 season.

She spent part of her summer with an unexpected stint with Puerto Rico’s national team and carries international experience into the new season.

“I think I took a lot out of it just being able to face that level of offense in the offseason,” Hitchcock said. “It helped keep my endurance for the summer as well as give me a broader perspective of different batters and what they’re capable of.”

Aina-Cabrales finished her sophomore year at 13-15 with a 2.82 ERA with 95 strikeouts after transferring from Georgia Tech. She’ll have a chance to contribute at the plate as well as in the circle with Coolen — who enters the week three wins shy of 900 at UH — planning to have her eighth in the batting order.

“I’m super excited for that because hitting was my first love before pitching,” said Aina Cabrales, who made 17 plate appearances last year.

Morales and Iseri also have places in the batting order along with being available to pitch.

Morales made nine pitching appearances last year and her primary role will be at first base while hitting clean-up. Iseri is slated to start in left field and gives the Wahine a left-handed option in the circle coming off of a standout career at Cerritos (Calif.) High School. She went 16-7 with a 143 strikeouts as a senior while earning a spot on the Long Beach Press-Telegram’s Dream Team.

In her pitching appearances against the UH lineup, Coolen said Iseri is “moving the ball and she’s been really effective” and he hopes to give both freshmen some innings as they make the transition to college ball.

The pitchers will throw to sophomore Rachel Lack, who takes over full-time catching duties after splitting time between left field and third base most of last season.

“We’re super comfortable with her calling pitches behind the plate and we trust her,” Aina Cabrales said of Lack.

While the top of the pitching rotation will have a familiar look, the staff will have some new faces behind them and perhaps a new look to the offense with two freshmen — shortstop Sarah Muzik and third baseman Nicole Lopez — expected to top the order.

POSITION OUTLOOK

Infield

The Wahine have experience on the right side of the infield and promising newcomers on the left.

Primarily a pitcher as a freshman, Morales started 34 games at first base last season and led the Wahine at the plate at .331. She was second behind Leisha Li‘ili‘i with 32 runs batted in. Senior Tayana Mata made 36 starts at second base last season, sharing time with senior Dori Ann Sugai. Mata’s performances at the plate in the fall practice and over the last month earned her the starting nod and the sixth spot in the order.

Muzik emerged as the starter at shortstop and gives the Wahine a table-setter in the leadoff spot as a slap hitter. Lopez, the 2014 All-State Position Player of the Year as a Mid-Pacific junior, looks to bring stability to third base and is slated to hit behind Muzik.

Outfield

Keiki Carlos returns for her fourth year as a starter in right field. The senior hit .293 last season with a team-high 11 doubles and eight home runs and was an All-Big West honorable-mention pick. Junior Ulu Matagiese returns in center and brings power potential to the lower third of the order. Iseri, hit .544 as a senior and .526 as a junior at Cerritos, earned a starting look in left with a solid showing in the fall.

Catcher

Lack was among the team’s most versatile players as a freshman, starting 29 games at third base, 17 in left field and three at catcher. With Kayla Wartner completing her four-year run as a starter last spring, Lack takes over full-time behind the plate. She caught for Australia’s national team and for New South Wales in the national championships during the winter break. Freshman Heather Cameron was Iseri’s battery-mate at Cerritos and will back up Lack.