Bruins Named to National Team
After a sensation freshman season at UCLA both Jordan Woolery and Megan Grant were selected to the 16 member U.S. Women’s National Team Japan All-Star team series roster.
By Earl Heath | Contributing Sports Writer
After a sensation freshman season at UCLA both Jordan Woolery and Megan Grant were selected to the 16 member U.S. Women’s National Team Japan All-Star team series roster.
The events will take place August 4-7. The selected athletes will go head-to-head with world-ranked No. 2 Japan in a three-game series held across three cities in Japan – Fukushima (Azuma Stadium – Tokyo Olympic Games softball venue), Iwakuni (Kizuma Stadium – host of WNT pre-Olympic training) and Yokohama (Yokohama Stadium – Tokyo Olympic Games softball venue).
The Bruins are one of three teams to have multiple representatives, including Stanford and Oklahoma.
Grant and Woolery anchored the heart of UCLA’s lineup last season and were selected as NFCA Freshman of the Year Top 10 Finalists. Together, Grant and Woolery set a UCLA program record for the most combined runs batted in by a freshman duo with 104.
Grant, who was named an NFCA Second Team All-American and listed to the All-Pac-12 First Team, pounded out 15 home runs to lead all Pac-12 freshmen and ranked second among all NCAA freshmen with 58 runs batted in. She ranked second on the team in both homers and slugging percentage (.695). Grant set the tone for the Bruins’ offense in the back half of the season as their lead-off hitter, blasting three lead-off homers. She made her mark in Pac-12 play, leading the conference in home runs (9), extra-base hits (16), slugging percentage (.889) and runs batted in (26). Grant also owned UCLA’s longest hitting streak (14 games) and reached-base streak (24 games) in 2023.
Woolery, who was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and an NFCA Third Team All-American, ranked second on the team with a .390 batting average and reached double-digits in the home run category with 10. She finished the season with 46 RBI’s.
