Opposing dugouts will share an island link when Oklahoma and Washington meet on opening day of the Women’s College World Series.

Thursday’s pairing in Oklahoma City includes a convergence of three former Hawaii high school standouts, with fourth-seeded Oklahoma’s Jocelyn Alo on one side of USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium and fifth-seeded Washington’s Nawai Kaupe and Rachel Ogasawara on the other.

“Yes, it’s about beating the other team, but also for us it’s about representing Hawaii and our families as best as we can,” Ogasawara said Tuesday in a phone interview in a brief break amid the run-up to the WCWS and Thursday’s opening-round matchup, set for 8:30 a.m.

Ogasawara, a junior catcher and Kamehameha graduate, landed in OKC on Monday with the Huskies for her second trip to the WCWS. Kaupe (Maui) and Alo (Campbell) make their debuts in college softball’s crowning event a year removed from All-State seasons to close their high school careers.

The Sooners’ schedule kept Alo on the go on Tuesday, including a final practice in Norman, the quick drive north to Oklahoma City and the NCAA Championship banquet, where she picked up her most prestigious award to date.

Alo’s exploits at Campbell as a two-time All-State player of the year reached near-mythic status and she carried her prodigious production into a breakout season that led to her selection as the National Fastpitch Coaches Association freshman of the year on Tuesday.

She’d already picked up the Big 12 award after quickly establishing herself among the headliners in the nation’s most productive offense.

The two-time defending national champion Sooners (55-3) enter the WCWS averaging 7.05 runs per game, with Alo atop the hitting chart with a .415 batting average. She leads the nation with 28 home runs — two shy of the NCAA freshman record shared by Hawaii’s Kelly Majam (2010) and Oklahoma’s Lauren Chamberlain (2012) — and ranks third in slugging percentage (.970), fourth in RBIs (70) and 13th in on-base percentage (.545).

She homered in both of Oklahoma’s wins over Arkansas in the Norman Super Regional last week to help send the Sooners back to Oklahoma City for a shot at a third straight title.

Thursday’s game will be a reunion of sorts for Alo and Ogasawara, who spent a season together playing for the SoCal Pumas club team.

“She’s just a great person to be around and talk to, and always (has) a positive attitude,” Ogasawara said.

Kaupe and Alo were on opposite sides in their high school careers until joining up at last year’s New City Nissan Softball Senior Classic following the state tournament.

Kaupe, an All-State shortstop at Maui, joined Ogasawara in Seattle this season and has made 15 starts among her 39 appearances in her freshman season with the Huskies (49-8), who spent nine weeks at No. 1 in the polls this season.

She’s hitting .238 with four home runs, including a two-run shot in UW’s regular-season finale against Oregon State.

“It was an easy flow,” Kaupe said of integrating into the program. “I thought I wasn’t going to actually fit in, but having Rachel with me it kind of was a stress reliever. Every time I was down or I felt very homesick she was always there for me.”

Ogasawara, a two-time All-State pick who grew up in Mililani, has 17 starts behind the plate this season, catching a UW pitching staff that enters the week with a 1.12 earned-run average, tied with Oklahoma for the national lead.

“Last year it was honestly just a dream to be on that field, to be with my teammates, to be wearing that patch on my arm,” Ogasawara said of her first WCWS experience. “It’s prepared us by really grounding us, by letting this team know we’re meant to be here. It didn’t happen by chance, we worked our butts off in the summer, fall, preseason through Pac-12 play. Everything we’ve done has led up to this moment.”