After 16 years away, the University of Hawaii softball team’s return to the Big West won’t necessarily be a venture into unfamiliar grounds.

The Rainbow Wahine have faced six of the other eight conference members over the past three years and are 12-0 against Big West opponents over that span. Still, most of those meetings came in early-season tournaments, and the stakes will be considerably higher when nationally ranked UH returns to the old neighborhood starting this weekend.

"There are (eight) other opponents lined up on the other side of the street waiting to knock us off," UH coach Bob Coolen said, "and we have to take care of business all the way along that street to retain our ranking.

"Every team will have some strength you’re going to have to contain, whether it be stealing bases, the short game, a pitcher who’s dominating, a team that’s really confident in themselves. Whatever it may be, we’re going to have to overcome that."

The Wahine (22-7) open Big West play today at Cal State Northridge (14-18) as the conference’s lone ranked team, holding steady this week at No. 20 in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 and at No. 23 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25.

But with the start of conference comes a clean slate of sorts. Unlike the Western Athletic Conference, UH’s home since 1997, the Big West doesn’t have a postseason tournament to determine its automatic berth into the NCAA tournament, placing added significance on each of the next 24 games.

The Wahine, voted the Big West’s preseason favorite by the league’s coaches, departed on their second road trip of the season early Thursday morning and begin the Big West schedule with a doubleheader today and a single game on Sunday at CSUN’s Matador Diamond.

UH faced CSUN the past two years in the Easton Desert Classic in Las Vegas, winning those meetings by a combined score of 20-3. But entering a new league presents a different perspective for this weekend’s series.

"It’s definitely a different feel. You’re used to going into the conference knowing the teams inside out," senior pitcher Kaia Parnaby said. "We’ve played Northridge a few times and a few of the other Big West teams, but we haven’t played them as much as the WAC teams. We’re going to learn a lot about ourselves and our opponents this weekend, and we’ll just play our game."

Compared to their recent 17-game homestand, a three-game weekend series will probably seem relatively light for the Wahine. They closed a 10-day run of games by sweeping a doubleheader against Baylor and Syracuse a week ago, winning the finale in 12 innings.

"It shows the character of this team," senior shortstop Jessica Iwata said. "I think everyone knew we were tired by the time Saturday came, and it shows that we can push through it. We got through those 10 days and I think it’ll help in the long run when we’ll need it the most."

The Wahine enter league play hitting .248 as a team, good for fifth in the conference, but have found ways to generate runs for Parnaby, the reigning USA Softball Player of the Week and three-time Big West Pitcher of the Week.

Parnaby (20-3) owns the Big West’s lowest earned-run average at 0.98 and has thrown a league-high 1632⁄3 innings. Her 214 strikeouts is 80 ahead of the conference’s next highest total, and her efforts also have UH atop the Big West with a team ERA of 1.93.

The week leading up to the trip gave her a chance to recharge after throwing 51 innings in seven appearances last week.

"She can do her cardio, she can roll when she wants to roll and she’s at the top of her game right now where she knows what she needs to do (to stay sharp)," Coolen said.

Kelly Majam enters the week leading the Wahine offense with a .310 batting average. The senior centerfielder also tops the Big West in home runs (nine) and total bases (58) and is tied for the league lead with 25 runs scored.