Power has remained a staple of the Hawaii offense this season. Execution could be the more critical component when the Rainbow Wahine face Cal Poly this weekend.

UH leads the Big West with 43 home runs and hit eight in its past six games. But given the dimensions of Cal Poly’s Bob Janssen Field in San Luis Obispo, Calif., UH coach Bob Coolen is looking for the Rainbow Wahine to generate offense within the fences in the three-game Big West softball series.

“It’s a big ballpark and the wind blows in,” Coolen said. “So balls aren’t flying out of this ballpark, they’re going in gaps. So we have to manufacture runs and not rely on the long ball.”

The short game was pivotal in UH’s last road trip, when the Wahine (24-18, 5-4 Big West) won a series at Cal State Fullerton. They return to California this week tied with Fullerton and Long Beach State for second place in the conference with the pack chasing undefeated CSUN (9-0).

Cal Poly (21-22, 4-5) is a game behind UH and also looking to make up ground when the series opens with a single game on Friday at 1 p.m. Hawaii time. 

That said, “We need to take care of our business and not be watching the scoreboard,” Coolen said.

The Wahine will likely face Cal Poly sophomore Sierra Hyland on Friday and again in Saturday’s doubleheader. Hyland, the reigning Big West Pitcher of the Year, leads the conference with 197 strikeouts in 197 1/3 innings, also a league high. 

Hyland (16-14, 2.16 earned run average) struck out 13 while picking up two wins in Cal Poly’s sweep of UH as a freshman last year at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium. Coolen hopes familiarity will help the Wahine make a quicker adjustment this time around to keep from getting under Hyland’s riseball, which typically results in strikeouts and popups. 

“We can’t let her basically do what she did against us last year with her riseball and change up,” he said. “We need to go after the first good pitch.  … We just need to be aggressive.”

UH freshman Rachel Lack continued her hot start to conference play with two home runs last week against Long Beach State and is hitting an even .400 in UH’s nine Big West games. Leisha Li‘ili‘i has also picked up the pace lately and is hitting .393 in league play.

Kanani Aina Cabrales (12-12, 2.66) and Brittany Hitchcock (11-6, 2.55) will face a Cal Poly lineup hitting .254 overall. UH and Cal Poly enter the series both averaging 3.3 runs in Big West games.

“Hopefully we get on a roll and other teams will start beating each other up,” Coolen said, “and hopefully we can take care of business.”

Friday

Hawaii at Cal Poly, 1 p.m.

Saturday

UC Davis at UC Santa Barbara (DH), 9 a.m.

UC Riverside at CSUN (DH), 9 a.m.

Cal State Fullerton at Long Beach State, 10 a.m.

Hawaii at Cal Poly (DH), 11 a.m.

Sunday

UC Davis at UC Santa Barbara, 9 a.m.

UC Riverside at CSUN, 9 a.m.