Following breakout performances at the plate in Las Vegas, the University of Hawaii softball team is hoping for an outbreak of sorts upon returning home.

The Rainbow Wahine hit .343 with nine home runs during their six-game stay in the desert, raising their season batting average 106 points. They open the Bank of Hawaii Invitational on Friday looking to carry the feverish pace into the start of a five-week homestand.

"We have a lot of talent on the team, and we’re finally learning to play together. Everyone’s hitting contagiously," said UH senior catcher/outfielder Kayla Wartner, the reigning Big West softball Field Player of the Week.

UH (7-4) starts a run of four tournaments at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium over the next month on Friday against UTEP (2-8).

Three of UH’s losses have come against teams in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 coaches poll — No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 12 UCLA. This weekend’s tournament brings two more ranked teams to town, No. 17 Washington (8-2) and No. 19 UCF (8-0).

"It’s a good test for us now that we have 11 games under our belt and we’ll see where we’re at," UH coach Bob Coolen said.

Although facing ranked opponents can boost the team’s profile, "honestly we’re not really too focused about who we’re playing; it’s how we’re playing," Wartner said.

The concept of contagious hitting pops up often in conversations with Coolen and Rainbow Wahine players. The top three hitters in the order enter the week with six-game hitting streaks.

"I’ve talked about it and they used the word contagious themselves and that’s something we want them to be thinking about," Coolen said.

Lindsey Willmon moved into the leadoff spot four games into the season and hit .417 in UH’s 4-2 run in the Wilson/DeMarini Desert Classic. Wartner followed by hitting .550 (11-for-20) with four doubles and four home runs and drove in 10 runs.

After a rough opening weekend, Keiki Carlos went 9-for-20 (.450) in Las Vegas.

Shortstop Sarina Jaramillo, who settled into the seventh spot in the order, raised her batting average from .182 to .300 over the weekend.

Wartner enters this week’s tournament hitting a team-best .467. Along with addressing a fix in her swing mechanics, she credited the confidence that built with each successful at-bat for her surge on the first road trip of the season.

"Contagious is just knowing that one through nine can hit the ball and if you don’t get the job done the person behind you will," Wartner said. "That’s really good to have confidence in every one of your players and know they all can hit the ball wherever, whenever it’s needed."

Local ties

Two Hawaii high school graduates return for this week’s tournament. Washington junior Kimberlee Souza (‘Iolani) is hitting .344 with eight RBIs. Summer Palipti (Campbell) is UTEP’s starting center fielder.