A well-traveled - but not exactly road-weary - Hawaii softball team reached the final stop of its postseason odyssey yesterday.

Less than 24 hours after Jenna Rodriguez hit the home run that reverberated from Tuscaloosa, Ala., to Manoa, the Rainbow Wahine touched down in Oklahoma City, home of the Women's College World Series.

“;(Hawaii senior Amanda Tauali'i) was second off the plane and said, 'We've arrived,' “; UH head coach Bob Coolen said. “;That was the statement everybody captured.”;

With a 3 a.m. wake-up call to roll out of Tuscaloosa and begin the trip to Oklahoma City - a town that has come to embody the ultimate goal of each Division I softball team - there wasn't a whole lot of time to sleep following Hawaii's stunning

5-4 win over top-seeded Alabama in Sunday's super regional finale.

After the celebration settled down, the UH coaches grasped the impact of the victory beyond the team's joyous inner circle.

“;I was answering text messages, trying to answer voice messages. I didn't want to check my e-mail,”; Coolen said.

But when he did take a look, “;I had more than 100 messages from people I hadn't heard from in years who run the gamut at UH.”;

  Coolen's inbox included congratulatory notes from former basketball and volleyball players he'd passed in the halls of the UH athletic department years ago.

Assistant coach Dee Wisneski, whose tenure with the program extends back to her freshman year in 1991, heard from numerous former teammates who reveled in the team's accomplishment.

“;(UH senior) Kanani Pu'u-Warren put it into words that this isn't just for us, this is for the state; this is for all the girls who played before and never had a chance to get here,”; said Wisneski, a former Wahine shortstop and now their first-base coach.

As she absorbed the program's arrival to the WCWS, Wisneski recalled the landmark season in 1994 when UH earned its first bid to the NCAA regionals.

As it did back then, Missouri will play a leading role in this breakthrough season for the Wahine.

The Rainbow Wahine (49-14), the 16th seed in the NCAA tournament, open the WCWS against the ninth-seeded Tigers (51-11) on Thursday at 7 a.m. Hawaii time at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN and broadcast locally on 1420-AM.

It was Missouri that denied UH a spot in the world series in 1994. The Wahine needed just one win over the Tigers on the final day to get to Oklahoma City, but suffered two extra-inning losses.

“;At the end we couldn't punch through and we were just devastated,”; Coolen said.

Added Wisneski: “;Yesterday was one of the most exciting days of my life, and back then that was one of the most disappointing days of my life.”;

That memory only sweetens this week's trip for those who were around, but it wasn't long before their focus shifted forward.

The team had their customary Monday workout in the gym at the Sheraton, where the Wahine are spending the week and were working to set up practice today. They'll get their first look at Hall of Fame Stadium in an hour-long practice tomorrow.

As Coolen told a friend in the coaching business, “;I've always wanted to coach out of that dugout. I've never had an opportunity to go up those steps. You see it so much and it's something you aspire to.”;

The winner of the Hawaii-Missouri game faces the winner of the UCLA-Florida matchup on Friday. The losers meet in an elimination game on Saturday.

In the other bracket, defending WCWS champion Washington faces Georgia, and Arizona meets Tennessee on Thursday.

The winners of the four-team brackets meet in a best-of-three series for the national championship starting Monday.