Keiki Carlos’ proficiency at the plate was often overshadowed by her pitching exploits during a decorated high school career.

While she works through some early growing pains in the circle as a college freshman, Carlos has already made a striking impression in the middle of the University of Hawaii softball team’s batting order.

Carlos has been one of the toughest outs in the lineup since moving into the third spot, and she tops the Rainbow Wahine’s hitting charts heading into a run of 10 consecutive game days, starting with a doubleheader tonight.

"To be our leading hitter at this stage as a freshman, to move up to No. 3 in the order and get things done is a testament to her athleticism," UH coach Bob Coolen said. "She’s a versatile athlete."

Carlos enters the Pepsi Malihini Kipa Aloha Tournament hitting .347 and is tied for the team lead with 10 extra-base hits (eight doubles, two home runs). Her 12 RBIs is tied for second on the team, and she’s hit safely in seven of the last eight games.

UH (13-5) — ranked 21st in this week’s USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 poll and 24th in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 — opens the tournament with an exhibition doubleheader against Tokyo Women’s College of Physical Education today starting at 6 p.m.

The Wahine will also face Portland State (5-15) and East Carolina (8-11) in the tournament, which runs through Sunday. They’ll then have stand-alone games against Syracuse and ECU before rolling into the Chevron Spring Fling (Utah, No. 6 California, Syracuse and No. 20/17 Baylor), March 13-16.

"It’ll be a little March madness of our own," Carlos said. "It’ll be fun to see what we can do in that amount of time with the amount of games we have, and it’ll prepare us for our conference."

Carlos broke into the lineup batting seventh in the order during UH’s season-opening homestand. Coolen then moved her up to third during the Easton Desert Classic in Las Vegas.

"I definitely wasn’t expecting it," Carlos said. "But I knew I had to get the job done either way."

After a productive performance on the road, Carlos hit .421 in six games in her return to Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium last week. She drove in six runs, with seven of her eight hits going for extra bases, and was named to the Bank of Hawaii Invitational all-tournament team.

"I feel a lot more relaxed at the plate, I don’t really stress out," Carlos said. "It’s more of the relaxing point of my game I guess."

A two-time All-State Pitcher of the Year at Mid-Pacific Institute, Carlos was also one of the Owls’ top offensive threats. One of her most notable swings came at RWSS last spring when she homered in a 1-0 win over Kapolei in the semifinals of the Division I state tournament.

Carlos earned wins in her first two pitching starts this season, but struggled with her command in her last two appearances and didn’t make it out of the second inning in UH’s losses to Nevada and Memphis.

"I need to work on that aspect of my game and have more confidence in myself and just work harder in practice," Carlos said.

"Whatever happened already is in the past and I just have to make it a learning experience and not let it affect me in future games and just learn from my mistakes."

Carlos started in right field to close last week’s tournament and is scheduled to pitch in the second game of tonight’s doubleheader. Fellow freshman Loie Kesterson is slated to start the opener after throwing 51⁄3 innings of shutout relief against Memphis last Saturday.

While senior Kaia Parnaby will get the bulk of the work over the rest of the homestand, UH will need some effective innings from the freshmen during the grueling stretch of games.

"We can’t go 10 straight days with one pitcher and then think we’re going to go into the conference fresh," Coolen said.

Coolen said he plans to use the entire roster in tonight’s games, giving most of the reserves playing time during the doubleheader.