Hawaii’s nonconference softball schedule is a testament to quality over quantity.

Not long after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic halted college athletics a year ago, the 2021 Rainbow Wahine schedule was torn asunder as one team after another pulled out of UH’s annual slate of early-season tournaments — save for one.

“Washington kept texting me saying ‘we’re coming, we’re coming,’ ” UH coach Bob Coolen said.

Sure enough, Washington was the “last team standing,” as Coolen put it, and UH’s three-game series with the eighth-ranked Huskies represents the lone nonconference test for the Rainbow Wahine in the regular season.

“They already have a lot of games under their belt and we don’t, but it’s a good challenge,” Coolen said Wednesday in a Zoom session.

Washington opened its season on Feb. 12 and enters today’s 6 p.m. series opener at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium at 13-2. UH saw its first game action in nearly a year in sweeping an exhibition series with Chaminade last weekend.

The Wahine outscored the Division II Silverswords 24-2 in three games (the scheduled finale was rained out) and Coolen said the series solidified the UH batting order as well as top of the pitching rotation.

Shortstop Nawai Kaupe, who began her college career at Washington, joined the UH program last year. She hit .347 and tied for the team lead with seven home runs. The Maui graduate went 6-for-7 with two homers last week against Chaminade.

Coolen said Kaupe has emerged among the team leaders along with junior center fielder Brittnee Rossi and fifth-year seniors Angelique Ramos (third base) and Bree Soma (left field).

After last season’s shutdown, Rossi, who returns in the leadoff spot, said she broke out an old bat and net to keep her swing in shape in her backyard before the players were allowed to return to campus to resume team workouts.

“When we very first started hitting off our own pitchers I had to fix my timing a little bit, just seeing the ball, seeing outside pitches, inside pitches, rises,” Rossi said. “But after Chaminade, it definitely helped a lot. I could see the ball a lot better.”

Second baseman/catcher Ka’ena Keliinoi and right fielder Maya Nakamura return for their second shot at a freshman year. Rachel Sabourin, another returning freshman, saw time at second base and designated hitter last week and hit a grand slam in the opener.

First baseman Callee Heen, UH’s leading hitter last year, opted not to return for a second senior season. Two left-handed newcomers earned starting spots last week in freshman catcher/first baseman Mya’liah Bethea and sophomore first baseman Dallas Millwood, a former All-State performer at Kamehameha who transferred from Nevada.

“Dallas is capable of hitting the long ball, she just needs to believe in it and she is doing an awesome job for us at first base,” Coolen said.

Freshman Jetta Nannen made four pitching appearances last year as she eased back from an injury and tops the rotation entering the season. Ashley Murphy went 4-6 in 11 starts last year and Izzy Dino, last year’s opening-night starter, went 4-5.

Washington is led by shortstop Sis Bates and pitcher Gabbie Plain, both NFCA first-team All-Americans in 2019. Bates enters the week hitting .458, best among the team’s regulars. Catcher Morganne Flores, a 2019 second-team All-American, is hitting .356, good for fifth on the team, with three home runs.

Plain, a senior from Australia, is 7-0 with an 0.52 earned-run average and 95 strikeouts in 53 2/3 innings. She was named the Wilson/NFCA national Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday.

“We just want to go out there, we don’t have anything to lose, why not ball out?” Rossi said.

Following this week’s series, the Wahine open Big West play with a home series against UC Santa Barbara on March 19 and 20.

College Softball

At Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium

>> Who: No. 8 Washington (13-2) vs. Hawaii (0-0)

>> When: Today, 6 p.m.; Friday, 6 p.m.; Saturday 2 p.m.

>> TV: None

>> Radio: Today, 1500-AM