The Hawaii softball team could know how it stacks up with some of its best conference competition relatively early in the 2025 season.

UH will encounter traditional diamond powers Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton among its first four Big West series as the Rainbow Wahine seek to qualify for the first edition of the six-team Big West softball championships in May, it was revealed in the team's full 2025 schedule released Thursday.

In recent years, UH saw the Titans and the Beach in the final few series of the season. Those two finished 1-2 last year (CSUF went 22-5 in the BWC while LSBU was 20-7) while UH was fourth at 13-12 in conference and 20-26 overall.

“We’ll play one series at a time since every team this year is vying to be in the Top 6 and see what happens!” UH coach Bob Coolen messaged Spectrum News. “Looking forward to it since I’ve asked for a tournament in the BWC since 1991 and then since 2013 when we went back into the BWC.”

Coolen is entering his 34^th and last contracted season as the head of the softball program.

The Wahine will host three tournaments at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium during nonconference play: the season-opening Bank of Hawaii Paradise Classic, with Santa Clara, Saint Louis and Southern Indiana from Feb. 6-8; the Spring Fling Tournament with Western Illinois, Utah Tech, Sacramento State and Cal State Bakersfield from Feb. 13-16; and the Outrigger Invitational with Howard, Jackson State and Washington from Feb. 26-March 1.

Some of the best competition of the nonconference slate could come in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, Calif., from Feb. 21 to 23. There UH will face BYU, Nevada, Saint Mary’s, Loyola Marymount and San Diego State.

UH opens up Big West play — nine three-game series — at home against LBSU on March 7. UC Davis, UC Riverside UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego are UH’s other home series, while it takes on CSUN, CSUF, CSUB and Cal Poly on the road.

UH graduated a large class that included All-Big West second baseman Maya Nakamura, skilled utility player Ka‘ena Keliinoi and slugger Mya’Liah Bethea. They return their ace, Addison Kostrencich, all-conference catcher Izzy Martinez and pitcher/center fielder Chloe Borges.

The Wahine have 14 newcomers — nine freshman and five transfer players. Among them is Milan Ah Yat, a former star at University Lab School who played her freshman year at LMU, and Carys Murakami, a Maryknoll alumna and two-year starter at second base for CSUN.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.