(Photo credit Sam Polgreen/WCSN)
TEMPE — When one thinks about tailgating, their mind usually goes to college football games, NFL games and sometimes other big sporting events. It rarely ever goes to any other college sports, especially college softball.
For a special group of fans at Arizona State, softball tailgating is a way of life.
The parents of Arizona State softball players have been tailgating for just under two years now, thanks to head coach Megan Bartlett and the father of junior outfielder Tanya Windle, Michael Windle.
“I started it last year when Tanya joined the team because Coach Bartlett wanted tailgating and wanted team camaraderie with the parents,” Windle said.
It was easy for Windle to take over as the leader of the tailgating group, as it had been something he had already been thinking about doing with the parents of the players.
“For me, it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m from Oklahoma, so I love tailgating. We’re all crazy in the Midwest,” Windle said.
In Bartlett’s third season as the head coach of the Sun Devils, she saw a lot of turnover on the roster. ASU entered the season with 14 new players on its roster, with six transfers and eight freshmen.
Tanya Windle was one of the few Sun Devils who was a returner from the 2024 season and saw lots of growth in both on and off the diamond togetherness, thanks to the culture that tailgating has built.
“There’s a lot of youth to this team. We have come together on this team a lot more this year than I’ve ever been a part of on any sort of team,” Windle said.
Outfielder Ashleigh Mejia, one of the new freshmen, has already felt the support and family atmosphere from the team and the parents.
“It’s just like one big happy family. You just feel so much love at Farrington, especially on game days,” Mejia said.
Mejia is from Corona, California, so when her family visits her at Farrington, they commute around five hours to and from each game. Her family also travels well, with sometimes over five people coming to support her each game.
Her mother, Johnette Mejia, is at almost every non-weekday home game and has been welcomed by other parents with open arms.
“We just feel like family ever since we got here,” Mejia said. “Even from the visit almost three years ago, it always seemed like the right fit.”
The tailgates take place behind the Sun Devil Softball facility on the third base side of Farrington.
At that site, there are a couple of ASU-branded canopies, complete with a large inflatable Sparky mascot sitting right outside them. The food offerings are traditional tailgating foods, with burgers and chicken wings being staples at the tailgates.
The main star of the show is the trailer that Michael Windle uses to carry all of the supplies, including the grill and a large television. The trailer is wrapped with pictures of Farrington Stadium, and includes a photo of each player on the 2025 roster.
“When you have families buying in, the kids buy in. Once kids start buying into everything, winning starts happening,” Windle said.
The winning indeed started happening for the Sun Devils. They improved from 20 overall wins in 2024 to 34 in 2025. They also increased their conference wins from three in 2024 to 14 in 2025 in their first season in the Big 12.
ASU’s biggest series of the year came against the then-ranked No. 8 Arizona Wildcats, as they hosted them at Club Farrington in a three-game set.
“I actually camped out here. Because it was a rivalry weekend. I didn’t want to leave,” Windle said.
With the abundance of food at the tailgates, there have been more than just softball parents fed by Windle and the organizers of the tailgates. At first, he fed a few security guards, but it quickly became much more than that.
“I got people coming from soccer, lacrosse, ‘We want food!’,” Windle said. “I was feeding the campus for two weekends. It was crazy.”
Bartlett and the parents have built a special culture around ASU softball, and with a young core, the culture will continue to grow and get better.
“This is what sports is all about. Families getting together during sports and hanging out and having fun,” Windle said.
