A rain-shortened opening weekend heightened the anticipation for the University of Hawaii softball team’s trip to the desert.

The Rainbow Wahine went 2-1 in the Paradise Classic before heavy rains Saturday morning washed out the tournament’s final day, including a UH doubleheader. They departed for Las Vegas on Tuesday and open play in the DeMarini Desert Classic today with six games scheduled over the next four days.

“We just got a taste and it got taken away from us,” UH pitcher Brittany Hitchcock said. “So everyone’s very anxious and excited to get back on the field and see what we can put together.”

The Rainbow Wahine face No. 25 BYU (2-2) in the tournament’s opening game today at 2:30 p.m. Hawaii time at UNLV’s Eller Media Stadium. They’re scheduled to face San Jose State and Texas State on Friday, Memphis and Colorado State on Saturday and Nevada on Sunday.

But “weather permitting” remains the operative phrase with rain in the Las Vegas forecast Friday and Saturday.

UH opened the season with a doubleheader sweep against Sacramento State and Boise State last Thursday then fell to Oregon State in a 2-0 pitchers duel on Friday. While several newcomers contributed to the offense, UH coach Bob Coolen — five wins shy of 1,000 for his career — hopes to get a look at more of the roster this week.

“I think the energy we had was something we’ve been lacking for the last several years,” Coolen said. “We got a lot accomplished in the two days but we didn’t fully get everything accomplished.”

Coolen said he still wants to give junior transfer Dana Thomsen an opportunity to pitch after Hitchcock (1-1) and senior Kanani Aina Cabrales (1-0) combined for three complete games last week while posting a team ERA of 1.33 with 26 strikeouts and four walks while holding opponents to a .164 batting average.

“I really want to see what Dana can do,” he said, “because Nani and Britt had really good games and I need to see if Dana is going be a third go-to or relief artist.”

Freshman right fielder Chardonnay Pantastico led UH at the plate at .429 last week and hit the team’s first home run of the season. Junior transfer Danielle Garcielita hit .333 in the leadoff spot and sophomore Sarah Muzik and freshman Callee Heen both had two doubles and drove in three runs.