Opportunity arrived early for several newcomers to the Hawaii softball team.

The Rainbow Wahine departed on their first road trip with returnees pacing the offense and several younger players packing some added confidence coming off strong opening-week performances.

Freshmen Lindsey Willmon and Heather Morales earned all-tournament recognition in their college debuts and Kristina Akiona and Loie Kesterson produced in more prominent roles to open their sophomore seasons.

"We had these stories … where they got entrusted with a starting role and they seized it," UH coach Bob Coolen said.

UH’s lineup will continue to take shape in a run of six games over four days in the Easton Desert Classic in Las Vegas — including a matchup with the nation’s top-ranked team.

The Rainbow Wahine (3-2) open the tournament on Thursday against UTEP (1-4) at 2:30 p.m.

UH then faces No. 1 Florida (6-0) and Seattle (1-5) on Friday and Portland State (2-3) on Saturday. They complete the tournament on Sunday against Nevada (4-1) and Utah (2-3).

"We’ve got some different styles of opponents, good regional representation," Coolen said. "We need to play those teams from the west — that’ll help us — and then we’ll see what happens with Florida."

The Gators, a Women’s College World Series qualifier last year, enter the week at No. 1 in the ESPN.com/ USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 and No. 2 in the USA Today/NFCA coaches poll.

UH received votes in both polls following a runner-up finish in the Oceanic Time Warner Cable Paradise Classic, in which Morales pounced on her chance to establish a presence.

The right-hander opened her career by throwing 201/3 scoreless innings in four starts before giving up a run against UCLA in the final.

"I felt confident. I just felt in the groove and was just going with the flow," said Morales, who headed to Las Vegas at 3-1 with a 1.22 ERA with 11 hits, 11 walks and 11 strikeouts.

Kesterson delivered a gritty start against UCLA and shut out the Bruins — who hit .365 and averaged nine runs per game last week — into the seventh inning before they pulled away in the eighth. The left-hander came back to throw an inning of scoreless relief against UCLA the next night.

Willmon also enjoyed a solid debut week by hitting .308, including a late-inning home run against UCLA. She was recruited as a catcher/ third baseman, but a knee injury during fall conditioning triggered a move to the outfield and she started games in left and center field last week.

Akiona got an unexpected start at shortstop for the opener and kept the job by delivering a go-ahead home run against Hampton and following with two doubles and steady play on defense the rest of the weekend.