Grant’s Three-Homer Day Lifts UCLA to Friday Split in Clearwater

Friday, February 13

Clearwater, FL

12:00 PM (PT)

UCLA

5-1

Oklahoma State

6-3

UCLA

Oklahoma State

Megan Grant

Photo by: jbslimp

Grant’s Three-Homer Day Lifts UCLA to Friday Split in Clearwater

February 13, 2026 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Game 1 Box Score (PDF)Game 2 Box Score (PDF)UCLA's Stats (PDF)Highlights

CLEARWATER, Fla. – Senior Megan Grant on the No. 6-ranked UCLA softball team homered three times over the Bruins' two games at the Shriners Children's Clearwater Invitational at Eddie C. Moore Complex on Friday. After falling to Oklahoma State, 4-3, in eight innings, UCLA capped the evening by defeating Missouri in comeback fashion, 6-5.

Grant, who was coming off just the second three-homer game in UCLA history last Sunday, padded her season total to a nation-leading eight dingers through seven games. She hit a solo shot against the Cowgirls (6-3) and recorded her sixth career multi-homer performance against the Tigers (2-6).

Grant has left the yard six times over her last 10 at-bats dating to the Bruins' Feb. 8 win over UC Riverside. Her three homers today propelled her to No. 6 on UCLA's career home runs chart with 57. Grant's career slugging percentage also ballooned to .769, which now slots her at No. 2 in program history behind Stacey Nuveman (.945).

Grant's heroics came in clutch spots. Her first homer off Missouri's Marissa McCann cut the Tigers' lead in half to 5-3 in the fifth inning and sparked the Bruins' offense. Then, in the seventh, she delivered the game-winning blast with a towering solo home run to right-center field.

Senior Taylor Tinsley set a new career high for most innings pitched in a single day with 12.0 over Friday's two contests (previous: 10.2 on Feb. 16, 2024). She struck out 16 total batters with eight punchies in each of the two games.

Tinsley was stellar after the first inning of her start against Oklahoma State. After surrendering a three-run homer to Cowgirl Rosie Davis, Tinsley kept Oklahoma State off the board for the next six innings before the game went into extras. The Lawrenceville, Ga. native was lights out in the night cap versus Missouri, throwing 4.2 shutout innings and allowing only four baserunners.

Freshman Bri Alejandre also had a standout performance with crucial game-tying home runs in each of the two games. Alejandre followed Grant's first homer against Missouri with a two-run shot of her own that knotted the game at 5-5 in the fifth inning. Earlier in the day, she tied up Oklahoma State in the sixth inning with a solo shot to left field. The Alhambra, Calif. product is up to five home runs through the first seven games of her career.

Game 1: Oklahoma State 4, UCLA 3 (8 inn.)
The Bruins answered Davis' three-run blast in the first inning with one run on two hits in the top of the second. Redshirt freshman Aleena Garcia drew a full-count walk with one out to bring catcher Alexis Ramirez to the plate. Ramirez hit a ground ball that, instead of taking an expected hop into Aubrey Jones' glove at shortstop, took an unnatural flat bounce through the wickets and rolled all the way to the left-center wall. Garcia raced around from first base to score on the play.

The first of Grant's three blasts of the day came the very next inning to trim the lead to just 3-2.

Oklahoma State threatened to score again in the bottom of the fourth following a leadoff double by Davis. A sacrifice bunt pushed her over to third with only one out. Tinsley induced a ground ball back to herself and caught Davis in a pickle for a huge second out.

Alejandre made it a brand new ballgame in the top of the sixth with her home run off Cowgirl reliever Ruby Meylan.

Sophomore Rylee Slimp started a two-out rally in the seventh inning with a base hit to right field on a 10-pitch at-bat after falling down 0-2 in the count. Meylan worked around Grant, walking her on five pitches to bring up Jordan Woolery with the game-winning run in scoring position. Woolery flew out to left field to end the inning.

Alejandre flashed her arm and quick reflexes at third base to eliminate Oklahoma State's attempt at playing small ball. After a four-pitch walk to begin the inning, Alejandre charged on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Jones and threw across her body and away from her momentum to get the lead out at second base. She repeated her success on the very next play to get another force out at second.

Alejandre's defensive brilliance continued into extras. She notched the first out of the eighth inning by eliminating the international tiebreaker runner on second base by fielding another bunt and throwing to Garcia covering third base who applied the tag.

Oklahoma State's Jayden Jones drove in the walk-off RBI on a fielder's choice ground ball.

Game 2: UCLA 6, Missouri 5
UCLA overcame a four-run deficit against Missouri to pick up its first win in Florida. The Tigers held a 5-1 lead into the fifth inning thanks to home runs by Sidney Forrester and Sophie Smith and RBI doubles by Abby Carr and Abby Hay.

The Bruins evened the score with a four-run fifth inning that featured two-run blasts from Grant and Alejandre. Slimp laced a single through the left side and Woolery walked to allow for the extra RBI opportunities.

Sophomore Brynne Nally earned the start in the circle and surrendered four runs off four hits and one hit-by-pitch in her 2.1 innings. Redshirt junior Sydney Somerndike entered in relief for Nally before Tinsley shut the door for the game's final four frame.

Next Up
UCLA squares off with a pair of top-10 opponents at the Clearwater Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 14 versus No. 3 Tennessee at 1 p.m. (PT) on ESPNU and No. 7 Florida State at 4 p.m. on ESPN+.