Oklahoma State Softball Picked Third in Big 12 Preseason Poll

In the league’s final year with Oklahoma and Texas, Big 12 softball looks like it’ll be a lot of fun again in 2024.

The Big 12 released its preseason coaches poll on Wednesday, where Oklahoma State was picked third behind the two SEC-bound programs.

Based on this poll and the preseason national rankings that have released at this point, the OSU-Baylor matchup this year seems like it’ll be rather interesting. The Bears were ranked ahead of OSU in the Softball America preseason rankings, but the Cowgirls were picked ahead of Baylor in D1Softball’s rankings. The league’s coaches broke the tie by putting the Cowgirls narrowly ahead of the Bears — by a whole three points. The Cowgirls open Big 12 play against Baylor on March 8 in Waco.

It makes sense that the three-time defending national champion Sooners would head the list. Texas is coming off a Super Regional exit last season. The Cowgirls are coming off a fourth straight WCWS appearance but did lose some key contributors from last season.

UCF, BYU and Houston are all set to make their Big 12 debuts in the sport. UCF is far-and-away considered the best among the group, according to the coaches, as the Knights are 20 points ahead of BYU and 31 points ahead of Houston.

OSU opens its season with a game against Cal State-Northridge on Feb. 8.