Trips to Long Beach, Calif., have rarely yielded positive results for Hawaii softball teams.

The current Rainbow Wahine arrived in Southern California this week aiming to defy the program’s history on Long Beach State’s home field and remain within striking distance in the Big West race.

“I think they realize with nine games left we have a shot at doing something we haven’t been able to do the last several years,” UH coach Bob Coolen said on the eve of today’s series opener.

“I asked them one question, ‘Are you contenders or are you pretenders?’ That’s all I hear from the upperclassmen, ‘Coach, we’re contenders.’ They always talk to each other about that. It seems to be the buzzword right now.”

Coming off last week’s sweep of CSU Bakersfield at home, the Rainbow Wahine (18-15, 12-6 Big West) enter the series alone in third place in the Big West standings, one game behind Long Beach State (23-19, 13-5) and three behind conference leader Cal State Fullerton (31-16, 15-3).

The Wahine will play host to Cal State Fullerton next week in their final home series of the season, and the stakes for senior weekend will hinge on the outcome of this weekend’s visit to Long Beach.

The Wahine and Beach open their series today with a single game at 10 a.m., and will play a doubleheader on Saturday.

Coolen noted that senior center fielder Brittnee Rossi is the only player on the roster to have played a game in Long Beach. Rossi was a freshman during UH’s visit in 2018, when the Beach swept the series by an aggregate score of 20-3.

UH’s last win in Long Beach came two years prior to that when the Wahine pulled out a 3-2 win on Nicole Lopez’s seventh-inning double and Brittany Hitchcock’s complete-game performance. The Beach bounced back to win the next two games and UH hasn’t emerged with a series win in Long Beach since 1994.

The Wahine practiced at LBSU Softball Complex on Thursday and got a sense of the conditions that tend to keep fly balls within the fences measured at 210 feet down the lines and 220 to center field.

“Their field is huge, so the players know they have to really poke the ball to get it out,” Coolen said. “The wind blows in from left field … so the right-handed batters are going to struggle to get the ball over the fence.”

UH ranks second in the Big West with 28 home runs, while Long Beach State has just eight this season.

UH shortstop Nawai Kaupe was named the Big West Field Player of the Week on Monday after going 6-for-8 with three doubles and a home run against CSUB. The senior from Maui is hitting .337, leads the Big West with nine home runs and ranks second in the conference in OPS at 1.092 (.449 on-base, .643 slugging).

Wahine freshman Brianna Lopez (11-6) has surrendered four earned runs over her last 28 innings to drop her earned-run average to 2.06. Ashley Murphy (3-3, 5.75) remains the second starter and Cira Bartolotti has provided quality innings out of the bullpen as freshman Chloe Borges continues to work back from injury.

“We need to bring all four of our pitchers into the mix as we go down the stretch in the next nine games … if we want to do anything at the top of the conference,” Coolen said.

Long Beach State center fielder Naomi Hernandez sets the pace for the Beach lineup at .364 and with a .455 on-base percentage. LBSU junior Samantha Fowler (10-6, 4.09) struck out 21 in 121⁄3 innings in the Beach’s sweep of UH last season in Manoa. The Beach pitching staff ranks eighth in the conference with a team ERA of 4.11.