Most coaches—no, make that nearly all coaches—would've tried to move the runner to second.

Not Bob Coolen, not Hawaii.

The Rainbow Wahine and their skipper know in the new world order of softball the best way to get to home plate is not one base at a time. It's hitting the ball over the fence and then jogging around them. Or, at least it is for cleanup hitter Jenna Rodriguez and the rest of the muscling-up Hawaii batting order. She belted two homers yesterday, including the biggest in program history, a walk-off blast to spring the Wahine past Alabama 5-4 and into the Women's College World Series for the first time.

When Kelly Majam drew that walk to start the seventh inning against the top-seeded Tide and UH needed one run to tie, Coolen played for the win. By virtue of a coin-flip, Hawaii was the home team in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

The book says when you're batting last, you play for the tie in that situation, not the win. But you know what? That tome is as obsolete as the yellow pages.

The Wahine don't even have a book. They have a sentence, a short one: swing away.

They don't bunt, they don't slap. They hit homers, an NCAA-record 154, and counting. They hit homers, even at the cost of 16 strikeouts yesterday.

It's the only way Coolen and the Wahine know. So far it's all they've needed.

Cue up Old Blue Eyes. They did it their way.

“;Yeah, it was definitely Hawaii style,”; said Majam, UH's alpha bash sister with a nation-leading 30 clouts. “;That's how we play. That's how we've played all season.”;

I was among those who thought UH's lack of a “;small ball”; game could hurt it at some point. It still could next week when the Wahine meet up in Oklahoma City with the seven other super regional winners.

But I'm not going to bet against them. If anything, the Wahine have proven they belong among college softball's elite. And their style of play—fueled of course by their talent and a lineup with no soft spot—is effective, regardless of quality of competition, humidity or lack of altitude.

Today's game is not your mom's fastpitch softball, with so many 1-0 snoozers because pitching dominated. Runs used to be gold, now outs are. Give Hawaii and Coolen credit for being ahead of the curve, for building a team that can take advantage of the new equipment, rules and strength of the players.

About 1,400 miles to the west in Mesa, Ariz., the UH baseball team was making some history of its own. The Rainbows finally won a WAC tournament championship under ninth-year coach Mike Trapasso. It's fitting the victory came against Fresno State, the longtime nemesis. This time the Rainbows had the right timing and they're headed to the NCAA tournament for the second time in five seasons.

Athletic director Jim Donovan extended Trapasso's contract for just one year after last spring's disappointing conclusion. Now he says Trapasso lived up to his end of the deal by making the regionals, so he'll live up to his and work out a new contract, which we assume would be multi-year.

Then there's HPU softball, in St. Joseph, Mo. The Sea Warriors just keep chugging along. Yesterday's win puts them in today's Division II national championship game against Valdosta State. Sherise Musquiz did it again on the mound and drove in three runs with two hits in the 7-2 semifinal win over Metro State.

It was a rare triple play yesterday for Hawaii baseball and softball fans—and at least five more games to track, beginning with the Sea Warriors today.

Reach Star-Bulletin sports columnist Dave Reardon at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), his “;Quick Reads”; blog at starbulletin.com, and twitter.com/davereardon.