A week ago, Hawaii’s series with Cal State Northridge held the potential to dictate the direction of the Big West softball race.

Since then, CSUN continued its surge toward the program’s first outright Big West title since 1998 while UH’s hopes of catching the Matadors turned south.

So the Rainbow Wahine enter their three-game stay in Northridge, Calif., looking to keep the Matadors from celebrating at their expense.

"We definitely did not want that outcome at all, but we can’t dwell on it," UH junior Keiki Carlos said of last week’s series loss to UC Santa Barbara. "We just need to focus on the next series and come out strong.

"We’re also playing for our seniors. This is their last two series, six games of their career, so our goal now is to play for them."

UH’s season-ending stretch begins Friday with a single game at 10 a.m. Hawaii time at Matador Diamond. The Wahine (27-21, 8-7 Big West) and Matadors (39-11, 14-1) play a doubleheader on Saturday also starting at 10 a.m.

While UH will close the season next week with a home series against UC Davis, CSUN is on the verge of returning to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2007.

Led by former U.S. Olympian Tairia Flowers, CSUN is one win away from securing at least a tie for the conference title. A combination of two wins or Long Beach State losses clinches the championship and the Big West’s automatic berth to the NCAA regionals.

The Matadors are hitting .313 as a team with a league-high 82 stolen bases (35 more than the next highest total) and 40 home runs, second to UH’s 45.

"They’re a run-and-gun team," UH coach Bob Coolen said. "They love to put the pressure on the defense. … They’re adept at scoring runs, they have some big producers and they have some runners."

Outfielder Taylor Glover leads the Matadors with a .395 batting average and has 27 stolen bases in 31 attempts. Freshman second baseman Savannah Horvath was named the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Week after hitting .750 in a series win over Long Beach State that gave the Matadors a five-game lead with six to play.

Freshman Zoe Conley (18-4, 1.45 ERA) and senior Brianna Elder (17-4, 2.13) headline the Big West’s stingiest pitching staff.

The Rainbow Wahine are tied with Cal State Fullerton for third and are focusing on sharpening their execution in the circle in the late innings and at the plate with runners in scoring position.

UH surrendered game-turning rallies in their third time through the order in both losses to UCSB last Saturday and struggled to string hits together.

"We’re going to have to refocus this week, do some things better than we did last weekend obviously in regard to the short game and manufacturing runs because their ballpark is big as well," Coolen said.