Rainbow Wahine not giving up hope

There’s no deadline on goal-setting, or in this case resetting.

The University of Hawaii softball team’s preseason targets are all but out of reach, but that doesn’t mean the Rainbow Wahine have nothing to play for over their remaining nine games.

“If your goals are unattainable right now you’ve done one of two things in your mind, you’ve given up or you’re going to move on to something else,” UH coach Bob Coolen said. “Hopefully they move on to something else.”

UH (20-25, 4-8 Big West) has three conference series left on the schedule and face a team facing a similar scenario in UC Santa Barbara (22-25, 5-7) today to open a three-game set in Southern California.

The Wahine and Gaucho play a single game today at noon at UCSB’s Campus Diamond and a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 10 a.m.

After being swept at home by first-place Cal State Fullerton, UH enters the week eight games behind the Titans, so the Wahine are aiming for a 7-2 finish, which would get them back to .500 overall.

After this weekend’s series, UH closes the home schedule against Cal Poly (21-20, 4-8) next week and faces Long Beach State (27-18, 7-7) the following week.

“It’s a tall task, but it’s something to shoot for,” Coolen said.

UH is 3-3 on the road in Big West play and won a series at UC Riverside two weeks ago.

“I think for some reason we play more relaxed on the road,” UH senior Keiki Carlos said. “Hopefully we can bounce back and flush whatever happened (last week).

“We just need to work on the errors and just a lot of defensive things and hopefully our bats will be live on the mainland.”

UH committed eight errors last week, six in the series opener against Cal State Fullerton, to raise its season total to 74 in 45 games.

UH right-hander Brittany Hitchcock enters the week at 9-13 overall and 3-5 in Big West play. Her 2.28 earned-run average drops to 1.65 in league play. Kanani Aina Cabrales stands at 8-9 overall with a 3.63 ERA.

“They’ve pitched well — it’s basically our lack of hitting, our lack of driving in runs and getting it done,” Coolen said.

UH has hit around .240 for most of conference play and Coolen said he plans to shuffle the lineup again this week, shifting third baseman Nicole Lopez down a spot to third in the order and Carlos, UH’s leading hitter at .296, into the clean-up role.

Alia Monges, a freshman walk-on outfielder, was primarily a defensive replacement and pinch runner for much of the season but may have earned more playing time after going 3-for-5 in Saturday’s doubleheader against CSF.

UCSB is led by junior outfielder Kristen Clark, the Big West’s third-leading hitter at .420. Ashley Ludlow tops the Gauchos’ pitching staff at 8-13 with a 2.96 ERA and 135 strikeouts in just over 144 innings.