It is a funny thing about University of Hawai'i athletic teams that to put the greatness of one into perspective, you usually need to dust off the legacy of another.

It was that way with the 11-3 and No. 24-ranked 2006 Warrior football team that found its measure with the past in the form of the 11-2 and 20th-ranked 1992 Holiday Bowl Champions. And so has been, too, with Rainbow Wahine volleyball teams whose standards are set by the four national championship banners in the rafters of the Stan Sheriff Center.

But what of this Rainbow Wahine softball team that begins play for the first time in an NCAA Super Regional tomorrow in Knoxville, Tenn?

The Rainbow Wahine are 49-11 entering the best two-of-three series with host Tennessee (57-5). Only one other UH team has won more, the 51-14 team of 1994. Percentage-wise, the current team leads (.816) and would still hold that distinction even if it were eliminated in two.

But to get the picture of this Rainbow Wahine team you really need to go back-back-back to the period before UH even fielded a softball team. Well before any of the current players were born to a time when the only ball being played on the UH campus in May was baseball.

Indeed, the more you look at these Rainbow Wahine the more they begin to stir memories of the 1980 Rainbow baseball team. A groundbreaker in its own right.

That 1980 team was the first and, so far, only UH baseball team to win an NCAA regional. The Rainbows (60-18) punched their ticket to the College World Series that year on the University of Texas' home field as considerable underdogs. Something akin to what the Rainbow Wahine were able to do in capturing their NCAA Regional at UCLA, where the Bruins launched drives to 11 national titles.

It isn't just that the Rainbow Wahine win — which is often — but how they win. People who followed the 1980 baseball team began picking up on that months ago as this team's personality emerged and its chemistry became evident. It has been reaffirmed by the march to the postseason.

For it is the way the Rainbow Wahine find opportunities to scratch out wins, when necessary. And the way they can blow away victims when inspired. Mostly, though, it is the consistency with which they have plowed through a pretty formidable schedule. And, yes, the way they have over-achieved on occasion.

The baseball team got to the national championship game. The Rainbow Wahine can add to their resume and place in UH history by what they do against a Volunteer team that has been ranked No. 1.

Whatever might happen in Knoxville, they have already established themselves as the yardstick by which future UH softball teams will be measured. All that remains to be determined is how much higher that bar will be set.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.