How basketball gave UCLA slugger Megan Grant the joy to make softball history

LOS ANGELES — A month earlier, Megan Grant was opening her days inside UCLA’s basketball cathedral, absorbing elbows, fighting through screens and testing herself against Lauren Betts, a soon-to-be WNBA lottery pick.On this night, the hardwood bruises had given way to dirt and pine tar. Grant dug her cleats into the Easton Stadium batter’s box, waiting as Northern Colorado pitcher Ellyse Hydock tried to float a changeup past Grant in the bottom of the third inning.Advertisement