Megan Grant became the first college softball player to hit 40 home runs in a single season in 2026, a milestone that landed days before UCLA was set to open the Women’s College World Series against top-seeded Alabama on Thursday, May 28.
Grant’s homer made a headline already heavy with numbers: UCLA has hit 200 home runs in a single season and set NCAA single-season records in 60 games with 651 runs scored, 623 RBIs, 1,355 total bases and 323 extra-base hits. The 40th long ball capped a run that included her 39th two weeks before the WCWS and a first-season homer she hit two days after her final stint with the basketball team — she had appeared in 14 games for the UCLA women’s basketball team between Nov. 3 and Feb. 4.
The arc of Grant’s season — finishing as a two-sport senior and then exploding at the plate — has become a rallying point for fans. Kaitlyn Laabs began wearing a chef’s hat and blue apron at Easton Stadium starting with the Bruins’ NCAA Tournament Regional as a nod to Grant’s nickname “Chef Megan,” and Laabs said she would wear the chef outfit while supporting UCLA at Watch Me! Sports Bar in Long Beach during the Women’s College World Series. Laabs, who met Grant last weekend, praised her as a rare talent: "I just think that Megan Grant is a generational player not just in her skill set on the field but in how she carries herself — she’s a class act, and she’s the consummate teammate." Teammate Taylor Tinsley added, "I feel like I get the best seat in the house," watching the damage unfold.
Grant has been candid about how the season unfolded around her. "When they got to the WNBA, I was like, ‘OK, you guys are good, off on your own adventures,’" she said, describing relationships with teammates who left for the pro ranks. "They always FaceTime me and everything. And I'm just so grateful for them, and they're always keeping in touch. Some girls still go to the games and everything. It's a really tight-knit family." She credited the coaching culture for helping her balance two sports: "I learned so much from that group. Also, there was a lot of similarity between Coach Cori (basketball coach Cori Close) and Coach I (softball coach Kelly Inouye-Perez). I feel like the coaches at UCLA all talk the same language, which is awesome for me. They really brought out my joy and my competitive spirit, just balancing those two."
That coach, Kelly Inouye-Perez, has overseen an offense built to attack. "The old saying was, defense wins championship," she said. "But it has become a very offensive game. So the object of the game is to outscore your opponents, and that's what we're here to do." The program’s offensive identity has been summarized by a single line from UCLA legend and associate head coach Lisa Fernandez: "Touch first base." That motto, Fernandez says by habit and emphasis, is the small, relentless instruction behind an offense that set those NCAA marks.
The wrinkle is seed and schedule. UCLA enters the WCWS as the eighth-seeded team, set to face top-seeded Alabama in the opener, a matchup that tests whether historic hitting can overcome bracket positioning and the quality of the opposition. The Bruins are chasing a 13th national title in their 37th WCWS appearance; the question is no longer whether they can score — the numbers say they can — but whether they can do it against the tournament’s best pitching when it matters most.
Answering that will begin Thursday, May 28, when UCLA’s offense, guided by Fernandez’s small-moment insistence to "Touch first base," faces Alabama. The simplest conclusion the season supports is this: UCLA’s identity is offensive, and that identity delivered a historic season — now it must hold up under the pressure of the WCWS. If Grant’s 40 homers and the Bruins’ record totals mean anything, they mean UCLA will not be an easy out, no matter the seed.
