Megan Grant's basketball 'side quest' aided historic softball season at UCLA

With her former UCLA basketball teammate in attendance — yes, you read that right — Grant 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, Grant’s home run total extended to 40 with a walk-off grand slam.

Instead of scoring baskets, Grant was scoring runs. Lots of them.

Rice is used to seeing Grant on the basketball court during their run together on UCLA basketball's national championship team earlier this year, but Rice said seeing the two-way athlete in her element on the softball field was mesmerizing. It comes as no surprise to Rice that Grant is so dominant on the diamond.

“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,” Toronto Tempo rookie guard Kiki Rice told USA Today’s Studio IX on Tuesday. “Even though basketball wasn't her main thing ... she did it in such a professional manner."

Megan Grant's ultimate 'side quest'

Basketball was Grant's first love before she gave up the sport to focus solely on softball, but that didn't stop her from dreaming of playing both in the same season. It seemed like a longshot to Grant, whose many attempts to simultaneously play for UCLA softball and basketball were swiftly denied. However, that changed her senior year.

“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.”

Inouye-Perez and UCLA basketball head coach Cori Close coordinated a schedule for Grant to play both sports. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Grant practiced with the softball team, while Tuesday and Thursday were devoted to basketball practice, although she would hit the batting cages afterward.

"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," added Grant, who appeared in 14 games for UCLA's basketball team between November and February. "Whatever happened the day before, good or bad, I flushed it and then I moved on to the next thing."

Rice said she was impressed by Grant's work ethic and the joy that she brought to the court. Despite practicing and competing alongside five future WNBA first-round draft picks, Grant "never complained about anything."

"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."

Basketball gave Megan Grant 'new perspective' on softball field

The arrangement benefited both clubs. Grant was a sparkplug role player that infused her infectious energy into the basketball team. "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.

"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." 

The time away from softball helped Grant mentally refresh and step onto the field with a newfound perspective.

"She wasn't the best player on the basketball team," Inouye-Perez said earlier this month. "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.'"

That's an understatement. Grant surpassed Laura Espinoza's 31-year-old NCAA single-season home run record (37) set at Arizona in 1995 and shows no signs of slowing down. She's up to 40 home runs, including a walk-off grand slam to punch UCLA to the super regionals, where they'll face UCF in a best-of-three series starting Friday.

"I try to keep it as simple as I can," Grant, a finalist for the 2026 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, said after Sunday's 15-1 win over South Carolina. "I am just honestly blessed to be able to say the number 40."