There and back again: UCLA star plays softball, jets to hoops celebration in same day

When she went to sleep Saturday night, Megan Grant had accepted the fact that she wasn’t going to be able to make it to Phoenix for the women’s national championship game.

The two-sport UCLA athlete was a member of both the women’s basketball and softball teams in 2025-26. In the fall, she juggled both fall softball and basketball’s preseason and nonconference schedule.

She played 33 minutes over 14 games and scored six total points in basketball for the eventual national champions, but left the team shortly after winter break. She left because she has a full-time commitment to the softball team, where she is a two-time All-American.

So when she looked at Sunday’s schedule and saw a UCLA softball game against Indiana at noon (PT) in Los Angeles, and the women’s basketball national championship game starting just a half hour later in Phoenix, Grant accepted that her commitment lay with softball.

“Megan believed in her heart that she had done what she needed to do for them earlier in the year,” said her mother, Christine Grant. “So she was very happy and content to be at softball.

“I said, ‘Are you sure, Megan? This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing.’ She’s like, ‘Mom, I’m good. My heart is full, I’m good. I poured everything I could.’”

But by 5 p.m. that Sunday, Grant found herself 400 miles away in Phoenix at the team hotel, getting mobbed by her championship-winning basketball teammates, and receiving a slice of the net from coach Cori Close after the Bruins completed a 37-1 season with a dominant 79-51 win over South Carolina.

And by the end of that same Sunday, she was right back in Los Angeles, going to bed in the same one she woke up in, completing a nearly 800-mile round trip in a span of a few hours.

“It was a surreal moment,” Grant said. “I was just like, ‘Wow. I can’t believe I did that, but I’m so glad I did.’”

Here’s the hour-by-hour breakdown of how she did it.

Noon, Los Angeles

Grant and the consensus top-10 softball Bruins set off for the final game of a three-game series against Indiana. The previous night, in a 7-2 win, several stoppages had stretched the game. UCLA softball operations coordinator Claire Donyanavard had been working with the basketball staff to explore the feasibility of a postgame flight for Grant. It felt unlikely, but Christine Grant believed that her daughter should attempt to get to Phoenix by any means possible.

It would take a plan that was precise down to the minute, without deviation. If UCLA made quick work of Indiana, Grant could catch a flight to Phoenix and return with the basketball team’s charter.

If.

“Everything had to line up perfectly,” her mom said.

When Grant stepped into Easton Stadium, her mind was in Westwood, Calif., even if her heart lingered in Phoenix.

“Once it was game time, I locked in on softball and tried not to ask for updates,” Grant said. “I wanted to make sure softball knew I was with them. But in my heart, I had a good feeling.”

12:30 p.m., Phoenix

UCLA All-America senior center Lauren Betts won the opening tip against South Carolina’s Madina Okot, and the Bruins seized control early against Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks. UCLA surged ahead 21-10 and never relinquished its grip. A 25-9 third quarter confirmed to Grant’s mom Christine, watching in the softball stands, that a championship celebration was coming. Whether her daughter would be there remained the question.

Back in Los Angeles, UCLA softball was in command. Senior pitcher Taylor Tinsley was on her way to a seven-inning shutout, and redshirt junior catcher Alexis Ramirez launched a two-run home run.

The coaches kept their challenges in their pocket, and the game moved quickly, fueling hope.

“I think at about 1 o’clock, I was like, ‘OK, we’re in the bottom of the fourth,’” Christine said. “Then I looked up, and all of a sudden we were in the top of the sixth, and it was just, ‘OK, this might work.’”

1:40 p.m., Los Angeles

Behind Tinsley’s shutout and Ramirez’s power, UCLA secured a 4-0 win, completing the sweep over Indiana and improving to 33-5.

A 3:45 p.m. flight out of LAX had been booked as a contingency by the school, but Grant hesitated to leave so soon after her game. She remained committed to her responsibilities as a senior leader under coach Kelly Inouye-Perez.

Only with the blessing of her softball teammates and coaches did she decide to go, contingent on a basketball win. With UCLA firmly in control, that outcome felt inevitable. She received clearance, which came as a surprise because when she went to sleep the night prior, she was certain she wouldn’t be going.

“I talked to Coach Perez, and she really insisted that I go,” Grant said.

Her mother said teammates “kicked her out,” laughing.

“I just wanted to make sure softball knew I was all for them,” Grant said. “At first, everyone said no, (the night prior) so I thought it was a hard no. It caught me by surprise, but I knew the (basketball) girls wanted to see me, so I had to make the trip.”

3:45 p.m., Los Angeles

Grant left Easton Stadium without showering and rushed to LAX. In the car, she peppered her mother with questions about how UCLA had built such a commanding lead over South Carolina, which was playing in its third straight national championship game.

Her mind, finally released from softball, met her heart in Phoenix. She had catching up to do on the proceedings in Phoenix.

“We walked her through every quarter,” Christine said. “They stormed out in the first, plateaued in the second, and then took off in the third. After that, they were just holding on.”

By the end of the roughly 25-minute drive, Christine sent her daughter into LAX with only minutes left in the game. Megan paused outside TSA, unwilling to miss the final seconds. Hundreds of miles away, tears welled as she watched her basketball teammates’ dream materialize. Security could wait.

“Everyone in the airport knew I was watching,” Grant said. “I had UCLA gear on. I didn’t want my phone to go under the scanner without seeing them celebrate on the court. I was just so proud. No one deserved it more.”

5:10 p.m., Phoenix

Back at the team hotel, UCLA players mobbed Grant as she walked in. The room swelled with elation, not just from the title, but by her mere presence. They knew something about her that not many do — she absolutely hates flying — and that made her effort to get there so much more impressive.

“It was a mix,” Grant said. “Honestly, I think I fly better by myself than I do with the team, weirdly enough. But sometimes the turbulence, it made me forget where I was for a second. But I was just overfilled with joy, and I knew right when I landed, I’m sprinting out of the plane to go see the group.”

Close was draped in the championship net, surprised to see Grant and offering the net to her so she could cut her own ceremonial piece as everyone else had. Even though she played in just 14 games, Grant had been part of history. Close made sure she had her piece of it.

It made every mile worth it.

“Their reaction to her and everything that was posted between her and Coach Close and the girls, to me, everybody would have paid a million dollars for that,” Christine said. “It was priceless.”

9:30 p.m., Los Angeles

Grant believes she was in Phoenix for all of an hour before facing her fear of flying once again and getting on the basketball team’s chartered plane to Westwood.

But for some reason, maybe the extra leg room, the spacier plane, or just the permeating exuberance of a championship, this flight back was OK.

“It was a lot easier,” Grant said. “The plane was bigger, so less turbulence, and I think the only turbulence was from us. We were rocking the plane.”

The team returned to a hero’s welcome around 9:30 p.m. Some fans may have seen Grant earlier at Easton Stadium, but now there she was, stepping off the bus with the basketball team, sharing in the reverence of UCLA’s first NCAA women’s basketball national title.

She hadn’t expected that many people to be there.

“It was really sweet to have us show up have a bunch of fans, a bunch of students, a bunch of staff just be able to come and celebrate us, congratulate us,” Grant said. “I definitely thought everyone would be asleep, but it was really nice to see our community just come together.”

It was a celebration deserved not only by the team but also by the two-sport athlete who refused to let one commitment erase another.

“I felt like she needed that celebration,” Christine said of her daughter. “She didn’t feel entitled to it. But I thought she was entitled to it, and so did everybody else. Exactly what happened is exactly what I envisioned. I envisioned them being over the moon that she actually flew out there just to be with them in whatever celebration capacity possible.”

And so Grant celebrated into the night, before returning to the same bed she woke up in that morning. The same one she always planned to return to.

She just hadn’t expected the journey in between.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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