In a chilly room located inside the Texas softball facility, seven Austin reporters sit, facing a blue NCAA DI Softball Championship backdrop, chattering about booking hotels and flights to cover the Texas Longhorns in the Women’s College World Series.

A hush falls over the press room as Arizona State softball head coach, Meghan Bartlett, walks in with her ace, senior right-handed pitcher Kenzie Brown. While the silence is out of respect, the understanding that the only travel plans Arizona State has in its future are the ones that were made to go back to Tempe, Arizona, hangs over the room.

This season wasn’t a failure for the Sun Devils by any means. With Bartlett in her fourth year at the helm, Arizona State reached its first super regional since 2022 and forced Texas, the defending national champions, to play a three-game series after the Longhorns dropped Friday’s game 4-1.

In the deciding game, the Sun Devils were shut out 5-0, marking the end of any dreams of playing for a national championship next week. So as Bartlett sat at a fold-out table draped in black cloth, she fought back tears when asked to describe her team of athletes.

Bartlett has coached at Texas and Ball State, leaving each place better than she found them.

“I’m feeling nothing but pride and gratitude for the 23 kids who chose to be Sun Devils,” Bartlett said. “Yeah, that was a tough one.”

Arizona State’s journey to the postseason was not smooth. After accumulating a 38-16 record, the Sun Devils nabbed the sixth seed for the Big 12 Tournament and had a four-game, uphill battle to claim the conference championship.

However, Bartlett’s team persevered, and Arizona State hoisted the championship trophy over Texas Tech and its star right-handed pitcher, senior NiJaree Canady, after besting the Raiders 4-0. Even with a conference championship under their belt, the Sun Devils couldn’t secure a high enough seed to host a regional, and instead, hopped on a plane to College Station.

Brown delivered two winning performances in the circle out of the three games Arizona State played in the College Station Regional, and boosted her team to the Austin Super Regional. Despite the Sun Devils’ dominance in the 2026 postseason, Brown knew that her team would still be facing stiff competition against the Longhorns.

“I take a lot of pride in my pitching staff, like those are my girls,” Brown said before the series. “It’s going to be all hands on deck (against Texas). No secret, this is an elite offense, so we’re looking forward to how we can approach them.

While Arizona State’s athletes remained relatively unfamiliar with Texas, Bartlett’s previous ties to the Texas softball program made facing the Longhorns, and specifically head coach Mike White, a full-circle moment.

“Coach (White) is a tremendous man and mentor, and he taught me a lot about the game and how to compete at a really high level, and to some degree what to not apologize for as women,” Bartlett said. “A lot of his secret to success is he holds standard really, really well. And the secret’s out on Arizona State, so now it’s my job to hold standard here.”

Although Bartlett has nothing but high praise for White, the mutual respect between the Longhorns’ players and the Sun Devils’ coach was on full display after the do-or-die game.

As Bartlett walked through the handshake line, she embraced Texas senior catcher Reese Atwood and senior outfielder Ashton Maloney in tight hugs. A loss as the one Arizona State suffered could easily leave a coach bitter or upset, but her love for the game and the athletes that play extends past any disappointment.

When Texas junior infielder Katie Stewart, or “Stewie” as she’s known in the softball community, racked up four RBIs and eight putouts in the final game, Bartlett could only compliment her ability to step up in big moments.

“That’s Stewie doing Stewie things,” Bartlett said. “Kenzie’s (Brown) got a lot of tricks, and Katie (Stewart) was ready for it.”

Through the tears, Brown expressed her gratitude to Bartlett for bringing her into the program after playing her freshman year at the University of Tulsa. While Brown will no longer don maroon and gold, her days playing softball aren’t over yet. In the third round of the 2026 AUSL Draft, the Portland Cascade selected Brown after she led the Big 12 conference in strikeouts.

“I love Coach B,” Brown said. “She took a chance on me when she didn’t have to. My freshman year wasn’t at all what I thought it would be, but she took a chance on me, and here I am. I owe a lot of my success to her.”

Bartlett's ASU has topped the Big-12 two years runninng, proving extra dangerous in tournament formats.

As Brown delivered her final remarks as a Sun Devil, voice cracking in the emotion, Bartlett wrapped an arm around her. This wasn’t a loss she had to shoulder alone.

Bartlett will be watching another Women’s College World Series from her couch back in Arizona, but past the pain of missing out, she feels hope for the years ahead — Arizona State’s name is back in the conversation. However, she isn’t just yearning for a trophy; she wants to win it with the young athletes beside her.