The NCAA softball single-season home run record has been broken … but the race to set the all-time record will likely continue into the Women’s College World Series.

The single-season home run record was 37, set by Arizona’s Laura Espinoza all the way back in 1995. Entering this weekend’s conference tournaments, Oklahoma’s Kendall Wells had 36 while UCLA’s Megan Grant had 35. But top-seeded Oklahoma lost its first SEC Tournament game to 9-seeded Georgia without Wells going yard.

Meanwhile, Grant hit home runs in all three of UCLA’s Big Ten Tournament games, catching Wells and tying Espinoza, before taking the record (for now) in the Big Ten championship game against Nebraska:

• The ball got absolutely crushed this year. Only 13 players have ever hit 31 or more home runs in a year, and three of them did it this season: Grant with 38, Wells with 36, and Grant’s UCLA teammate Jordan Woolery, who has 33.

• Grant, by the way, also played a bit part for the national champion UCLA women’s basketball team, appearing in 13 games before committing to softball full-time in February.

• The determining factor in the home run race could be team success. Whichever team plays the longest will have the most chances to hit home runs. A national champion squad will play at least 10 games over the course of the NCAA Tournament and Women’s College World Series.

• Advantage Oklahoma in that regard. The Sooners are are one of the favorites to make the WCWS and play for a championship, which would give Wells plenty of chances to overtake Grant.

• Regardless of who finishes with the record this year, keep an eye on Wells to break it in the future. While Grant and Woolery are seniors (both were selected in the first round of the inaugural AUSL draft), Wells is a freshman. The career home record is 122, set by Oklahoma’s Jocelyn Alo. If Wells keeps hitting like this, she might demolish that record.