Surrounded by the blazing neon of Las Vegas, the University of Hawaii softball team has enjoyed lighting up scoreboards in its recent visits.

The trip has been a staple of UH’s early-season schedule for the past 12 years, the desert air proving conducive to producing big numbers at the plate over the past five.

The Wahine (3-2) return this week for the Wilson/DeMarini Desert Classic hosted by UNLV looking to again ignite their offense.

"I used to hear about it all the time, freshman year," UH outfielder Keiki Carlos said. "The seniors were like, ‘you’ll love it, we hit the ball so good in Vegas.’ Now being a junior, knowing what Vegas has to offer, it’s really exciting."

UH has averaged 8.75 runs per game while going 21-7 in Las Vegas since 2010. The Wahine have reached double digits in 11 games in that span, including three times in a 4-2 run last year.

They open another six-game stay Thursday against former conference rival BYU (2-3) in the tournament’s opening game at UNLV’s Eller Media Stadium. The game is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.

UH takes on Utah State (0-4) and Utah Valley (3-2) in a doubleheader at the Stephanie Lynn Craig Complex in Henderson, Nev., on Friday before playing No. 12 UCLA (4-2) on Saturday at UNLV. UH closes the weekend against Seattle (2-3) and Portland State (2-3) on Sunday.

The Wahine departed on their lone road trip of the nonconference schedule on Tuesday after picking up two wins over Saint Mary’s and another against then-No. 25 DePaul last week in the Oceanic Time Warner Cable Paradise Classic. They were also shut out twice by No. 4 Oklahoma and hit just .171 over the first five games of the season.

"I know we had some higher expectations," said Carlos, a tri-captain along with senior Kayla Wartner and freshman Brittany Hitchcock. "I think what we can take out of it is the positives; we know what we have to work on. … We knew we could have hit the ball a lot better, it’s the first tournament and we’re still trying to jell as a team and as a lineup."

UH coach Bob Coolen shuffled the order during the opening tournament and expects to do so again this week.

"We’ll have different lineups, different matchups, different batteries and hopefully we can find a consistent .300-hitting type team," Coolen said.

Sophomore pitcher Kanani Aina Cabrales turned in shutouts in her first two starts at UH, alternating with Hitchcock in the circle.

Coolen pointed to the team’s defense as a strong point last week. Freshman Rachel Lack started in four spots in five games — center field, left field, catcher and third base — and made a home run-saving catch in left in UH’s first meeting with Oklahoma.

Along with boosting batting averages, the first road trip of the season tends to develop the team’s chemistry and serves as a gathering point for many of the players’ families on the mainland.

"The character comes together a lot because kids start hanging out together 24-7 rather than four hours a day," Coolen said.

"Hopefully this will bring us tighter because we come home and we have the bulk of our whole season will be right before us in four tournaments."