Wahine prepare for the air up there

Where the University of Hawaii softball team finishes in the Western Athletic Conference standings will depend heavily on how it fares in the league’s light-air destinations.

Having ascended into the national rankings during nonconference play, the Rainbow Wahine make their first trek to the WAC’s higher elevations with a three-game series that starts today at New Mexico State.

Today’s single game opens UH’s eight-game road trip. It will be televised on a delayed basis on ESPNU. The game is scheduled for noon Hawaii time, with a 4 p.m. air time. The series concludes with a doubleheader on Saturday.

The Wahine arrived in Las Cruces, N.M., situated about 3,900 feet above sea level, on Wednesday. They practiced the past two days to get adjusted to the dry air and the 4-hour time change in their second, and longest, road trip of the regular season.

Next week’s stops will take them north, and over the 4,200-foot mark, for midweek games against Utah and Utah Valley before ending the trip at Brigham Young. Later in the season, they’ll travel to Reno, Nev., and Logan, Utah, both at about 4,500 feet.

But for the moment, UH — ranked 16th and 18th in this week’s national polls — remains focused on the series with NMSU, the defending WAC regular season and tournament champion.

UH is 11th in the NCAA RPI, released Monday, but UH coach Bob Coolen isn’t putting much stock in that.

"We still have our whole conference to go, everyone is fighting to get into the (WAC) tournament," Coolen said. "Every game is going to be a dogfight as we already witnessed with San Jose State (last week)."

UH’s juniors and seniors experienced the conditions at NMSU Softball Complex in 2010, when UH visited for a regular-season series and the WAC tournament. The UH offense averaged 12.1 runs in those seven games, while pitchers Stephanie Ricketts and Kaia Parnaby allowed four per game.

"Our ball moves differently up there," Ricketts said before the team’s departure. "We know the ball flies off the bat … So I think we’re going to have to adjust our game a little more. We can’t just ignore it."

"You have to be real careful about your pitches," Coolen said. "You’ve got to be really aware that the ball is not going to break as much, it’ll cut through the air a little bit quicker."

Ricketts and Parnaby return this week ranked second nationally with a collective earned-run average of 0.80. The UH offense, which struggled toward the end of a 17-game homestand, generated some momentum in closing last week’s series with San Jose State by posting nine hits in an 8-0 mercy-rule victory.

"It was good to end on a good note and see everyone hitting again," said UH third baseman Sarah Robinson, UH’s third-leading hitter at .333 with 21 RBIs. "I’m glad we’re finally getting it back and getting out of that team slump."

New Mexico State went 9-2 on a season-opening homestand but has played in Las Cruces, the site of this year’s WAC tournament, just twice in its past 23 games. The Aggies return home looking to get on track in WAC play after being swept at BYU last weekend.

Kapolei graduate Briana Tovio-Asato, a freshman third baseman, is hitting .337 with 10 RBIs.