UCLA’s Megan Grant is just like every other college senior her age.

Sure, it might not seem like it from the outside looking in. After all, how can someone who has hit 89 home runs across her college career — one short of the Bruins’ record — and helped one of softball’s most dynamic offensive teams check off a list of new NCAA and program records relate to the other sociology majors in her classes at UCLA?

Grant disappears into her head sometimes, something she readily acknowledges. But her solution might not be as accessible to all the other “Twilight”-binging, video-game-loving UCLA students. She has coach Kelly Inouye-Perez keep her, the Division I home run queen, from getting caught up in the moment.

“She does a really great job with just keeping me neutral,” Grant said. “Sometimes I may get in a little crazy headspace, but she does a really great job helping me get out of those feelings that I’m stuck in, and she pulls me out and makes me realize, ‘Hey, as long as I can be who I am, that’s enough.’”

Inouye-Perez and assistant coach Lisa Fernandez are some of the Bruins’ biggest keys to success as the team prepares for the start of the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City. The Bruins will face Texas Tech at 4 p.m. PDT Sunday in a game airing on ESPN.

UCLA closed its super regional with a single-season home run record (200) and a record for WCWS appearances (34).

Grant is no stranger to the work necessary to see that level of success. But even in her rare bad at-bats and struggles, Inouye-Perez and Fernandez allow her the space to fail. After all, there are nine places in the lineup. One person alone isn’t indicative of UCLA’s wins or losses, Inouye-Perez says.

“We really focus on succeeding and learning how to fail, so they can just get to the next pitch,” Inouye-Perez said. “We talk about the ability to slow the game down, to take deep breaths, to be able to enjoy the moment. It’s not on any one Bruin.”

That mentality doesn’t exist in a void. Inouye-Perez and Fernandez worked in tandem to create the powerhouse team, which is in the midst of one of the best offensive seasons in D1 softball history.

Inouye-Perez is in her 20th year coaching the Bruins and is the only NCAA softball player to win a championship as a player and a coach. She led the 2010 and 2019 teams to those titles. Meanwhile, Fernandez, in her 28th year coaching at UCLA and her fourth as associate coach, has taken primary responsibility for hitting — one of the Bruins’ biggest keys to success. The team leads the nation in batting average (.385), RBIs per game (10.38) and on-base percentage (.496).

“Me and her, we’re workhorses,” Grant said of Fernandez. “We work all day after practice hours together, and it just means the world. You can tell that she loves the game and her little nuggets that she teaches me.”

The Bruins’ success in the batter’s box also has helped raise the tide of a team that could’ve fallen into many pitfalls. The team has only one main pitcher, Taylor Tinsley, who’s spent the most time in the circle in the NCAA tournament with 29-1/3 innings pitched. The Bruins are also young. Of the 21 players on the roster, only eight are seniors, redshirt juniors or juniors.

Seniors Jordan Woolery and Grant are one pace to break NCAA records, but the underclassmen aren’t far behind. Redshirt freshman Aleena Garcia set a single-game RBI record (7) when she hit two three-run homers in UCLA’s 14-4 win over Central Florida in the Super Regional.

Much like Inouye-Perez, Fernandez’s best attribute is her ability to be a sounding board for Grant.

“You get her enthusiasm too,” Grant said. “If you mess up, she’s always there to have your back. She celebrates your wins as well, and she gets very ecstatic about it. It almost makes me laugh, because it makes things so much more fun. She just brings that out of people.”

Even when teams lose to UCLA and Fernandez, it’s still a positive experience for some.

UCLA associate head coach Lisa Fernandez huddles near the mound with starting pitcher Taylor Tinsley (23) during the fifth inning of a comeback win over California Baptist. The Lancers scored 10 runs in the fifth, but Tinsley bounced back from outing.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

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Central Florida coach Cindy Ball-Malone considered Fernandez one of the best softball players ever, calling her the Michael Jordan of the sport. But what makes her truly impressive, Ball-Malone said, is that Fernandez is an even better coach.

“She’s just a winner,” Ball-Malone said. “I kind of just want to rub up on her or something to get that mojo because she’s got it. Her attention to detail, her belief in the smallest things, that’s why she is so good at what she does.”

It’s no wonder then why so many people, regardless of team affiliation, want to see UCLA’s coaches in person.

If you’re a part of the Bruins, you get to learn from people who have brought the school championships. And, if you’re trying to beat UCLA, there’s no better accomplishment than saying you beat Inouye-Perez and Fernandez’s record-breaking team.

“[Fernandez is] going to push you, and it might be uncomfortable, but dang it, you have no choice but to get better,” Ball-Malone said. “If you can get through her, you can get through anybody, and I’m going to learn from that so I can bring that to this program.”

Roman Reigns has been called the “Head of the Table” for a reason.

He was an undisputed WWE champion for years and leader of The Bloodline before he made his way back to the top of the company at WrestleMania 42, defeating CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship.

Since the win, Jacob Fatu has been the biggest thorn in his side. Fatu made clear he wanted everything that Reigns had. Reigns’ win over Fatu at Backlash earlier this month wasn’t enough. He challenged Reigns to Tribal Combat at Clash in Italy – a match meant to put Reigns’ title of “Tribal Chief” on the line.

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Reigns had already dispatched challengers to his place in his family when it came to Tribal Combat. Jey Uso and Solo Sikoa both tried and failed over the years. Reigns was trying to make sure that Fatu would never challenge him again in an effort to “domesticate” him. One of the strategies was to eliminate Fatu’s use of the Tongan Death Grip – a move that Fatu has pulled out over and over again.

Reigns used a toolbox to crush Fatu’s hand and, for a moment, keep the use of the Tongan Death Grip at bay. It would take way more than that to keep Fatu down. Reigns knew he needed to dig deep. He speared Fatu through a barricade, trampling security members in the process.

He walked around the ring yelling that he didn’t need anyone’s help as he took off the turnbuckles. Fatu tried to hit another Tongan Death Grip but couldn’t synch it in. Reigns countered with a Superman Punch, but Fatu ate all of them. Reigns tried for a spear, but Fatu hit it on Reigns first.

Fatu hit a pop-up Samona Drop and then a moonsault. Still, he couldn’t pin Reigns. On the second pin attempt, Reigns hit a low blow on Fatu. The two men, leaving it all on the line, were gassed in the middle of the ring.

Reigns got up and smashed Fatu’s head on the exposed turnbuckle. Fatu was dazed and Reigns speared him through the table. Fatu got back up and Reigns hit one more spear. It was the last one he needed.

Reigns defeated Fatu, keeping the World Heavyweight Championship and remaining the Head of the Table.

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Fatu must now fall in line behind Reigns and The Usos. However, Solo Sikoa, Talla Tonga and Tama Tonga were also looking on to see Fatu’s loss.

Not a cake or a ribbon-wrapped present, but the Dodgers celebrated manager Dave Roberts’ 54th birthday with a 9-1 win over the Phillies on Sunday. The Dodgers ended their homestand with a 5-1 record despite their six-game winning streak ending the night before.

“I like the prospects of winning a baseball game,” Roberts said about what he wanted for his birthday. “It seems like we always play on my birthday. It’s just like any other day. Just kind of a little bit of gratitude, obviously.”

Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (4-5) held the Phillies hitless over the first three innings thanks, in part, to the defense.

Phillies left fielder Brandon Marsh tried to steal second in the second inning, but he took off too early. Yamamoto swung around and tossed the ball to Alex Freeland, who nabbed Marsh’s hands.

Yamamoto, much like Roki Sasaki the night before, threw his pitches faster than normal. But the elevated velocity didn’t seem to affect his performance. Despite throwing his four-seam fastball 1 mph faster than usual, the pitch resulted in a strike 76% of the time.

Philadelphia’s Trea Turner and Alex Bohm each snagged singles in the fourth inning, but little came to fruition. When Roberts pulled Yamamoto in the sixth, he had blanked his opponents with 10 strikeouts, four hits and two walks.

“Having a guy like Yoshinobu take the ball, it just gives you that extra confidence,” Roberts said. “You’re trying to win a series against a good team in the midst of 10 in a row. There’s just a lot of dependability with him.”

Yet no one — not the Phillies (30-29) nor the Dodgers (38-21) — had a harder game at the plate than home plate umpire Sean Barber, who had nine ABS challenges, three of which were upheld.

The Dodgers tallied 13 hits against the Phillies, and the runs followed close behind. In the second, Alex Freeland’s RBI double bounced off the center-field wall. As Philadelphia’s Justin Crawford rushed to track it down, Max Muncy sprinted around third and slid into home plate, avoiding the tag by catcher J.T. Realmuto.

Realmuto left in the bottom of the fourth inning with a left wrist contusion from a pitch that had hit him earlier in the game. He will undergo further testing, according to the team.

Kyle Tucker took a step toward overcoming his recent struggles with a third-inning RBI single down the first-base line. The ball skidded against the dirt and deflected off the base over Bryce Harper’s head. Freddie Freeman scored.

Tucker was one for 17 at Dodger Stadium before he finally connected a hit off Phillies pitcher Andrew Painter (1-6).

“I think that speaks to not being selective enough, because he is a guy that by nature can run deep counts and still be fine getting to two strikes, but it just seems like he’s much more hyperaggressive than I recall,” Roberts said before the game. “That’s just what my eyes see. But, yeah, he’s working hard to try to work through it.”

From there, the Dodgers kept scoring.

Ryan Ward and Freeland each homered to right field. It was Ward’s first home run in his first game at Dodger Stadium. Alex Call, who pinch-hit for Ward in the fifth, also drove in two runs with an RBI single to shallow center left field.

Andy Pages scored in the sixth inning on a Freeman sacrifice fly, and Max Muncy hit a seventh-inning home run.

Bryson Stott finally put the Phillies on the board with a home run in the ninth. By then, though, the Dodgers had already wrapped the bow on Roberts’ birthday gift.

Dodgers activate Jack Dreyer

The Dodgers activated left-handed reliever Jack Dreyer from the injured list and, in a corresponding move, optioned Paul Gervase to triple-A Oklahoma City.

Dreyer had been one of the Dodgers’ most consistent relievers before he missed 13 games with left shoulder inflammation. In 20 appearances, he held a 2.08 ERA with five earned runs and 24 strikeouts.

“Really excited to be back, obviously to do what I can to help the team,” Dreyer said. “Feeling great, so just ready to go whenever my number is called.”

Blake Snell, recovering from surgery to remove loose bodies from his left elbow, is throwing plyo balls but is not on a throwing progression yet like closer Edwin Díaz.