When a traditional softball power like UCLA moves into the softball-soft Big Ten Conference, records can be put in jeopardy.
With more than a month left in the season, two UCLA players have 30 or more home runs this year, Jordan Woolery with 30 and Megan Grant with 31. That means that the NCAA record of 37 home runs in a season by Arizona shortstop Laura Espinoza, 1995, is about to be broken. In a (much) less competitive league, the Bruins have already hit 154 home runs, smashing their old record of 108 set in the Pac-12 in 2008.
Arizona's Laura Espinoza hits against UNLV in the 1995 Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.
It's almost sad how easy UCLA has found Big Ten softball. The Bruins are 41-5 overall and 16-2 in the league. They have toyed with most Big Ten opponents.
They swept Michigan State 18-10, 10-0 and 10-2.
They swept Rutgers 16-5, 13-3 and 17-6.
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They swept Illinois 17-0, 10-1 and 18-0.
They swept Wisconsin 16-9, 14-5 and 8-0.
UCLA's single-season home run record, 31, was set by Olympic gold medalist Stacey Nuveman in 1999. Now it's likely that two Bruins will hit 40 or more homers this season. And the same holds true for UCLA's baseball program. The Bruins are currently 21-0 in the weak Big Ten.
Rewriting the record books will dilute many of the records established by UCLA All-Americans of the elite era of Pac-12 softball, 1990-2020. Welcome to college sports, 2026.
