LOS ANGELES – Junior utility Megan Grant on the No. 8-ranked UCLA softball team was named National Player of the Week by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) and D1Softball for a second consecutive week. The two organizations announced their weekly honors Tuesday.
This marks UCLA’s 29th NFCA National Player of the Week award and the fourth time the program has received the honor twice in consecutive weeks. Grant joins Stacey Nuveman (April-May 2002) and Amanda Freed (April-May 2000) as one of three Bruins to repeat as winners in back-to-back weeks.
Grant, who was also named Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday, led UCLA (40-5, 12-1 Big Ten) to a perfect 4-0 record with a team-best .667 batting average (6-for-9), five home runs, two of which were grand slams, 11 runs batted in, six runs scored and 3.083 OPS. Grant homered in all four games and hit grand slams in back-to-back contests against Cal Baptist on Tuesday and in game one versus Washington on Friday. Grant took over as the NCAA leader in home runs (22) and RBIs (68) after her dominant week.
In game one against the Huskies, Grant logged the fourth multi-homer performance of her career and third of the season. On Saturday, Grant went 2-for-2 with a solo homer in the first inning. After being intentionally walked in her first at-bat of game three, Grant deposited another solo homer over the right-center fence in the third inning to give UCLA a 2-1 lead.
Also of note, Grant’s two homers in game one against Washington pushed her total to 20 through 42 games played, tying her with Nuveman (1999) as the fastest Bruin to reach the 20-homer benchmark in a single season. Her 22 home runs are currently tied for fourth most in UCLA single-season history and the most by a Bruin 2013.
UCLA’S TICKET INFORMATION (HOME GAMES)
Single-game tickets for UCLA’s five remaining home games are on sale. Fans can secure tickets to each of the Bruins’ home conference games in UCLA’s inaugural year in the Big Ten. Complete ticket information about UCLA softball is available here. Direct links to single-game ticket purchases can be viewed here. Fans can call (310) 206-5991 or email [email protected] for more information.