A new year is offering renewed optimism for the University of Hawaii softball team.

The Rainbow Wahine will start training on Jan. 11 and open the season with a three-game series against Washington on March 4. This coming summer, Phase 2-B of Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium is expected to be completed.

It is a more hopeful outlook than the end of fall training, which was cut short by three days in late November when a player tested positive for the coronavirus. That player and two others who were earlier infected on the mainland were released from isolation. They are considered healthy and their cases are no longer active.

Head coach Bob Coolen said the school’s trainers have been diligent in health screenings. “Every time everyone remotely gets a headache or anything like that, we make sure we’re on top of it,” Coolen said.

During fall training, 13 of the 28 players were in Hawaii. The rest followed the training program on the mainland. Full participation is expected when preseason training begins on Jan. 11. Coolen said there will be split-squad workouts in the weight room.

For field work, the drills will be separated into four seven-player pods.

Those workouts will lead to what is hoped will be the season opener against Washington. The initial plan was for the Wahine to host five tournaments this season. Several potential participants sent signed contracts to UH. But as the pandemic heightened, several leagues imposed air-travel restrictions. Washington, a member of the Pac-12, was the only non-Big West opponent to agree to play the Wahine.

“The Pac-12 is allowing their conference to play nonconference games,” Coolen said.

The Big West schedule is murkier. Coolen obsessively tracks COVID-19 statistics across the country. He said if games were scheduled for today, it would be unlikely UH would play at UC Davis, Cal Poly and Cal State Northridge because of the number of COVID-19 cases in those areas.

“I’m hoping by the end of March, when we start conference, things will start getting better with the vaccine and all that stuff,” Coolen said.

Coolen also is looking forward to the additions to the softball complex. Construction is on-going in building a locker room that will accommodate up to 28 players, three coaches’ offices, a training room, and entry to a lounge for the players. The project is being built behind the first-base dugout. The Wahine have occupied the third-base dugout, but will move to the other side when the project is completed.