To think, if those two players had picked softball over skiing, Bob Coolen might have made a career at Stanford rather than Hawaii.

Back in 1988, Coolen left Bentley (Mass.) College to venture west and take a shot at coaching Stanford's club team.

That chapter lasted all of 10 days and ended prior to the start of practice—to be held at a city park—when two of the team's captains planned a trip into the mountains to ride the fresh powder rather than hit the field.

“;I told them, 'You go skiing, I go home,' “; recalled Coolen, who was sleeping on a friend's couch and planned to work as a lifeguard while coaching the team to pay the bills.

Stanford eventually added softball as a varsity sport in 1994 and has since evolved into an elite program in the Pac-10. But you won't hear any what-might-have-been pining from Coolen, who was hired as an assistant at Hawaii in 1989 and has won 711 games over 19 seasons as head coach.

“;I think I got a pretty good deal in Hawaii,”; Coolen said.

Coolen is back in Palo Alto, Calif., this week, leading the Wahine (44-13) to their ninth appearance in the NCAA regionals.

UH opens the double-elimination regional today at Stanford's Smith Family Stadium against Big West conference champ UC Davis (26-27) at noon Hawaii time. Host Stanford (36-17) plays Texas Tech (36-16) in today's other first-round game. The winners meet tomorrow at 9 a.m. and the losers play an elimination game at noon.

Hawaii is making its third postseason appearance in four years, all coming in Pac-10 ballparks. UH won the regional at UCLA in 2007 to become the only WAC team to advance to the NCAA super regionals. The Wahine were sent to Arizona State the following year, losing twice to the eventual national champion Sun Devils.

Both times Hawaii entered the regional as the dangerous lower-seeded team aiming for the upset. This year, the 16th-seeded Wahine—featuring the nation's highest-scoring offense—are the on-paper favorites.

Not that the designation is weighing on the WAC champions.

“;I'm pretty sure we're comfortable with the target we've had on our back the whole WAC season,”; right fielder Kanani Pu'u-Warren said.

Pu'u-Warren is one of four seniors who were around for the previous two regionals. But catcher Katie Grimes is the lone starter remaining from those teams.

Hawaii is somewhat familiar with UC Davis, having beat the Aggies 8-5 in the Cathedral City Classic early in the season. But “;that was two months ago,”; Pu'u-Warren said. “;We can't assume 'we beat them in February, so we're going to do it again.' “;

Said Coolen: “;(In the regionals) you never know what's going to happen; who's going to get hot at the plate, who's going to light it up pitching.”;

UC Davis' Alex Holmes, the Big West pitcher of the year, went 16-9 with 133 strikeouts while hitting a team-best .352.

Stanford, under coach John Rittman, came within a win of reaching the Women's College World Series a year ago. The Cardinal went 8-13 and finished sixth in a loaded Pac-10 this season, led by U.S. national team members in left fielder Alissa Haber (.442, 22 stolen bases) and second baseman Ashley Hansen (.339).

Texas Tech last earned an NCAA berth in 2001, when the Red Raiders ended Hawaii's season in the Tucson, Ariz., regional. Third baseman Emily Bledsoe is hitting .359 and Ashly Jacobs, a 6-foot-2 right hander, posted a 1.92 ERA in 27 starts.