OKLAHOMA CITY — Facing elimination, Megan Grant padded her record-setting home run total during a nine-run second inning and UCLA routed Arkansas, 11-0, in five innings on Friday night at the Women’s College World Series.
Grant’s three-run homer was her 42nd of the season, extending her NCAA record, and the 91st of her career, giving her sole possession of the UCLA career record. Aleena Garcia hit the first pitch of the second inning for a home run and Soo-Jin Berry also went deep with a three-run blast during the early outburst. Kaniya Bragg drove in two runs with a double and every batter in UCLA’s lineup scored a run in the inning.
Jolyna Lamar hit a leadoff home run in the fifth inning.
The Bruins extended their Division I single-season records for runs, home runs, RBIs, total bases and extra-base hits.
Eighth-seeded UCLA (53-9) advances to another elimination game Sunday at 4 p.m. PT against either No. 11 seed Texas Tech (58-7), the 2025 national runner-up, or seventh-seeded Tennessee (48-10). Those teams square off Saturday in a winner’s bracket game.
Fifth-seeded Arkansas (47-13), playing in the WCWS for the first time, was eliminated after losing back-to-back games for the first time this season.
UCLA’s Taylor Tinsley (33-7) allowed three hits, struck out two and walked two in the five-inning win.
Arkansas starter Payton Burnham (14-4) allowed four runs in 1⅓ innings.
After Garcia’s leadoff homer in the second, Burnham hit Bragg with a pitch, Alexis Ramirez singled, and Berry ripped a homer to left field for a 4-0 lead.
Saylor Timmerman replaced Burnham and walked Jolyna Lamar and Rylee Slimp before Grant blasted 260-foot homer that hit a metal fence beyond the wall in left-center field.
Grant’s 91st career home run broke the 24-year-old UCLA record set by Stacey Nuveman. Grant’s 68 home runs over the past two seasons ties the all-time Division I record.
It was UCLA’s largest margin of victory in a shutout at the WCWS after 150 games.
More to come on this story.