Megan Grant’s rare ability to juggle UCLA basketball and an elite softball season helped her reach 40 home runs, extend an NCAA single-season record, and deliver a walk-off grand slam—while teammates describe the basketball work as a mental reset.
On a loud, sunlit softball field, a moment meant for tradition turned into something else entirely—until the crowd helped finish it. At the NCAA softball regional final between Oklahoma and Michigan, a young boy couldn’t complete the national anthem, and the crowd stepped in to carry him through.
Within that same tournament weekend, UCLA’s Megan Grant was living a different kind of “side quest,” one that started not with a plan to break records, but with a question: could she truly play basketball and softball in the same season?
Grant, a two-way athlete in every sense of the word, made the answer look obvious. She hit her 39th home run of the season against South Carolina to extend her NCAA single-season record at the 2026 NCAA Softball Tournament on Saturday. By Sunday, her total climbed to 40 after a walk-off grand slam.
Instead of scoring baskets, Grant was stacking runs. Lots of them.
Kiki Rice, a Toronto Tempo rookie guard, watched Grant operate on the softball diamond after seeing her earlier in the basketball season. Rice attended with Grant—former UCLA basketball teammate, yes—and said it was striking to see the same athlete in a new rhythm.
“From how she handled herself and how she carried herself on the basketball court, I can tell exactly why she’s the best softball player in the country,” Rice said Tuesday. “Even though basketball wasn’t her main thing… she did it in such a professional manner.”
Rice also put the work ethic at the center of what made Grant so dominant—habits carried across sports, not just raw talent.
“Megan Grant’s ultimate ‘side quest’” started the way most long shots do: as a dream that repeatedly ran into reality. Basketball had been her first love before she gave it up to focus solely on softball, and she kept trying to find a way to do both.
Her early attempts to play basketball while also playing for UCLA softball were “swiftly denied.” But her senior year changed everything.
“I would always joke about being on the basketball team,” Grant told NCAA.com. “All of a sudden our head coach (Kelly Inouye-Perez) called me and was like, ‘Are you serious about basketball?. … I was like, whoa. Things just got really real really quick… I just said yes. because it felt like an opportunity you couldn’t pass up. And I was blessed with it.”.
That decision didn’t just happen—it was scheduled.
Inouye-Perez and UCLA basketball head coach Cori Close coordinated a plan that split Grant’s week. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays were devoted to softball practice. Tuesdays and Thursdays were for basketball practice, although Grant would still hit the batting cages afterward.
Grant described the rhythm as mental reset work as much as physical training.
“It was really cool to me personally when we split days because one day I could be hitting a softball and then the next day I could be shooting a basketball and in my head it was kind of like a reset. it was like a flush. ” Grant added. She also said that whatever happened the day before—good or bad—she moved on. Grant appeared in 14 games for UCLA’s basketball team between November and February.
Her basketball “side quest” wasn’t just tolerated. It was treated like preparation.
Rice said she saw a competitor who arrived early and stayed late, even when the sport wasn’t the main mission.
“That was really mainly a side quest. but the fact that she did it in such a professional manner. ” Rice told USA TODAY Sports. “She came early, she stayed late, she got extra shots up… She was just really a high level competitor. And I think you can see why she’s such a great softball player in the habits that she has.”.
For Inouye-Perez and the softball program, the benefit wasn’t theoretical. Grant’s energy—on and off the field—was contagious.
“Every single time she’s at practice or a game, we’re having so much fun because of her energy,” Rice recalled with a smile and a laugh.
Inouye-Perez said the impact is bigger than performance alone.
“She’s someone who’s easy to love. She worked hard, so you respect that. And then she comes and she brings energy. … And then obviously she performs in big moments,” Inouye-Perez said. “Everyone loves Megan to be a part of anything because she’s more than just that elite athlete. She’s such a strong culture athlete that she’s someone that … when she’s missing, you miss her. But when she’s there, you definitely feel her presence.”.
Then there was what Inouye-Perez described as a shift in Grant’s mental frame.
“The time away from softball helped Grant mentally refresh and step onto the field with a newfound perspective. ” Inouye-Perez said earlier this month. She added: “She wasn’t the best player on the basketball team. But it allowed her to be able to appreciate just how good she is in softball. … She got to realize that she’s very hard on herself in softball. but she came right back in her first ball game and hit a home run and said. ‘Wow. I am kind of good in this sport.’”.
Grant’s numbers backed up the feeling, even if they were never the point of the experiment itself. She surpassed Laura Espinoza’s 31-year-old NCAA single-season home run record of 37, set at Arizona in 1995. With 40 home runs now, Grant has included a walk-off grand slam that punched UCLA to the super regionals.
UCLA will face UCF in a best-of-three series starting Friday.
After Sunday’s 15-1 win over South Carolina, Grant leaned on simplicity.
“I try to keep it as simple as I can,” she said. “I am just honestly blessed to be able to say the number 40.”
The timing of that kind of confidence—coming after a season of dual-sport pressure and a weekend of regional fireworks—has made the “side quest” feel less like a detour and more like the ignition.
Grant is also a finalist for the 2026 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year.
Megan Grant UCLA softball NCAA softball tournament Kiki Rice Cori Close Kelly Inouye-Perez record home runs walk-off grand slam UCF super regionals Toronto Tempo
Basketball AND softball?? honestly I can’t even stay organized for one sport.
So wait the crowd helped a kid with the anthem and then also Megan’s out here hitting bombs? Wild weekend. I feel like the anthem thing should be more highlighted though.
I’m confused, didn’t Oklahoma like… already lose? But either way, if she has 40 home runs that’s cool. Side quest sounds like a video game thing, which I guess is accurate because she’s basically cheating the schedule lol
Good for her, but I don’t get how people can do “two-way” sports without burning out. My cousin played college basketball and softball and she was done in like a month because of the travel, so idk how Megan just powers through. Also the walk-off grand slam part—like did they even finish the game if the anthem took forever? Either way sounds like a feel-good crowd moment.