{"id":832087,"date":"2026-05-30T09:55:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T09:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/832087\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T09:55:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T09:55:23","slug":"megan-grant-becomes-uclas-all-time-home-run-leader-in-wcws-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/832087\/","title":{"rendered":"Megan Grant becomes UCLA’s all-time home run leader in WCWS win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

OKLAHOMA CITY\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Megan Grant<\/a> continued her historic march with another tape-measure home run and UCLA<\/a> homered four times, beating Arkansas 11-0<\/a> in five innings Friday to avoid elimination from the Women\u2019s College World Series<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Bruins (53-9), who blew a 3-1 lead against No. 1 seed Alabama on Thursday and lost 6-3, put away Arkansas early at Devon Park, scoring nine runs in the second inning.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody got sped up a little bit yesterday,\u201d UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez<\/a> said. \u201cWe made a commitment to be able to come in and slow the game down, stick to our training of having discipline at the plate so you can get a good cut on a pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three of the homers came in the second against Arkansas pitchers Payton Burnham and Saylor Timmerman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank God it\u2019s double elimination,\u201d Inouye-Perez said. \u201cWe got an opportunity to get another chance to get out here and play our game. That\u2019s all we talked about. We\u2019re a contagious hitting team. When they\u2019re loose and have discipline at the plate, great things can happen. I\u2019m very proud that UCLA softball showed up tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grant, who added to her NCAA single-season record for most home runs (42), passed Stacey Nuveman (1998-2002) for the most career home runs in UCLA history (91). <\/p>\n

\u201cLike a dream, honestly. I\u2019m just incredibly honored,\u201d Grant said. \u201cStacey Nuveman was a powerhouse when she played. To be able to say my name is next to hers, I\u2019m truly grateful for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bruins also got homers from Aleena Garcia<\/a>, Soo-Jin Berry<\/a> and Jolyna Lamar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough getting out here in front of a big crowd, being on a big stage,\u201d Inouye-Perez said. \u201cYou\u2019ve been waiting for it your whole life. I have a lot of young Bruins that are experiencing it for the first time. It\u2019s a big strength of our program that freshmen come in and play.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The win ended the Razorbacks\u2019 first appearance on college softball\u2019s biggest stage. Arkansas (47-13), which lost to Nebraska in extra innings Thursday night to draw the Bruins, managed just three singles against UCLA starting pitcher Taylor Tinsley.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Taylor to be able to come in and pound the strike zone, limit her pitch count, all of it was talked about on how we are going to be able to be our best,\u201d Inouye-Perez said. \u201cGreat to have an off day tomorrow, but it was huge for them to be able to shorten that game today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tinsley\u2019s shutout was the 63rd in UCLA\u2019s 34-year history at the Women\u2019s College World Series.<\/p>\n

Arkansas coach Courtney Deifel was asked if her team\u2019s 5-3 loss to Nebraska in 10 innings the night before affected the outcome of Friday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d she said. \u201cI mean, it was a long night. It\u2019s an emotional loss. Five lining it up with four, leaving your guts and your heart out there. We left heartbroken.<\/p>\n

\u201cUCLA, wherever you\u2019re not at your best, they\u2019re going to expose you. They exposed us tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bragg homered to right field in the top of the fifth inning, her 19th on the season, to make it 11-0.<\/p>\n

UCLA\u2019s nine-run inning tied for second most in WCWS history, and the Bruins have achieved the feat three times. Four home runs in a game tied a school record. The Bruins have hit four home runs in a game four times, including twice during their 2019 championship series win over Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

Home runs by four different players tied for most in WCWS history. It\u2019s been accomplished six times, and UCLA is responsible for four.<\/p>\n

UCLA will play another elimination game at 4 p.m. PT Sunday when the Bruins face either Texas Tech, the defending national runner-up, or Tennessee.<\/p>\n

Burnham didn\u2019t last long against UCLA\u2019s powerful lineup, which increased its home run total to 206.<\/p>\n

Garcia homered to lead off the second. Burnham hit Bragg with a pitch, Alexis Ramirez singled, and Berry launched a homer to left field to make it 4-0.<\/p>\n

Timmerman replaced Burnham and walked Jolyna Lamar and Rylee Slimp before Grant crushed a 260-foot no-doubter that hit a metal fence beyond the wall in left-center field.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Megan hits home runs, I back up,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cMegan is different. I mean, when she hits home runs, oh, my gosh, her energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a big energy starter for us. Megan has the biggest energy. She\u2019s the biggest killer up to bat. She just starts a lot of things for us. Really proud of her every time I see her step on home plate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OKLAHOMA CITY\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Megan Grant continued her historic march with another tape-measure home run and UCLA homered four times, beating…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":832088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[341315,341313,5027,32072,341316,1582,276,82719,341314,2961,224,5337,341312,45654,88045,341317,358,2501,341318,2030],"class_list":["post-832087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-aleena-garcia","tag-all-time-home-run-leader","tag-arkansas","tag-bruins","tag-burnham","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-elimination","tag-kaniya-bragg","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-megan-grant","tag-razorbacks","tag-second-inning","tag-soo-jin-berry","tag-texas","tag-ucla","tag-ucla-starter-taylor-tinsley","tag-win"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116662929086386779","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/832088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}