Longtime rivals Texas and Oklahoma are primed to go out in style in their final Big 12 seasons before joining the Southeastern Conference.
Texas (47-7) claimed the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Division I Softball Tournament on Sunday, despite losing to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship game 5-1 on Saturday. The Longhorns open regional play Friday at home against Siena.
Oklahoma (49-6), the three-time defending national champion, is the No. 2 overall seed. The Sooners will start their path toward what would be an unprecedented fourth straight national title when they open at home against Cleveland State on Friday.
Oklahoma defeated Texas in the best-of-three championship series in 2022 to claim the national title.
All the regionals are double elimination, with the winners advancing to Super Regionals. The Super Regional winners will advance to the Women’s College World Series starting May 30 and ending June 6 or 7 in Oklahoma City.
The top 16 seeds are hosts in regional play. Tennessee is No. 3, followed by No 4 Florida, No. 5 Oklahoma State, No. 6 UCLA, No. 7 Missouri, No. 8 Stanford, No. 9 LSU and No. 10 Duke.
Oklahoma State’s No. 5 seed means the Big 12 as it stands gained three of the top five seeds. Oklahoma State might have been seeded higher had it not lost to BYU 7-2 in the Big 12 quarterfinals on Thursday.
With Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Florida claiming the top four seeds, teams that will be in the SEC next year claimed the top four overall seeds.
AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports
