Before UCLA’s Super Regional win over Central Florida, Kaitlyn Laabs stood out in the crowd at Easton Stadium in a poofy white chef’s hat and a blue apron with a spatula and whisk in the front pocket. She had started wearing the homemade outfit during the Bruins’ NCAA Tournament Regional, and by the time the postseason moved on, she was no longer just another fan in the stands.
Laabs said she first saw the fit as a nod to Megan Grant, whose nickname around the program has become “Chef Megan.” Grant, who broke the NCAA single-season home run record two weeks before the article was published, had homered No. 39 and No. 40 during the Regional, including a grand slam. She was then walked six times in seven plate appearances in the Super Regional by Central Florida, a level of caution that only underscored how much opposing teams were trying to keep the bat out of her hands.
For Laabs, that was enough to keep the costume in rotation. The former Brown University player, who was a left-handed No. 2 hitter in the outfield from 2005-09, moved back to Southern California in 2020 and began following UCLA softball closely. She said the freshman class, including Grant, Jordan Woolery and Taylor Tinsley, made the Bruins especially easy to watch, and her appreciation for Grant only deepened after the home run record fell.
“I just think that Megan Grant is a generational player not just in her skill set on the field but in how she carries herself — she’s a class act, and she’s the consummate teammate,” Laabs said. She also said, “She’s getting the Barry Bonds treatment,” after watching opponents pitch around Grant so often.
The two met last weekend, and Grant said the exchange matched the energy Laabs had been bringing all season. “She kind of looks like me, too, like with her hair and everything — I thought I was seeing double for a second. It’s just really cool to see people taking on the chef attire, and I’m just really grateful for it,” Grant said.
Laabs said Grant’s reaction only reinforced why she kept showing up in costume. “She told me it was funny and I saw that it was bringing joy to her and to other people in the stands, so I just kept doing it because this team is all about playing loose, playing free, playing with that child-like enthusiasm, and as an athlete myself, if you can be in that world of playing like a kid, like that sandlot-style enthusiasm, why not try and bring that to the fans, bring that to the team? That’s where you want to be as an athlete always,” she said.
She said, “100%,” when asked whether she planned to keep wearing the chef outfit, and added, “We’ve got to keep the good vibes going.” This week, Laabs said she would wear it at Watch Me! Sports Bar in Long Beach while backing the Bruins at the Women’s College World Series, where the costume and the record-setting bat have turned into part of the same story: one player hitting like a force, another trying to match that with a little theater and a lot of support.
