OSU Softball: Big 12 Releases Tournament Bracket with Cowgirls as No. 3 Seed

The Cowgirls were a Texas loss away from a regular-season conference championship, but there’s still more Big 12 hardware to be won next weekend.

The Big 12 Softball Championship bracket was released Sunday evening with the regular season coming to a close. The tournament starts Wednesday at USA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, with the championship game concluding the event at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

Oklahoma State got the 3 seed after entering the weekend in a three-team race with Texas and Oklahoma for the regular-season title and to be the tournament’s top seed. Texas ultimately won the crown after sweeping Texas Tech. Despite finishing at the bottom of the trio, though, the Cowgirls beat both Texas and OU in a series this season. Texas also beat the Sooners. A slip-up to Iowa State wound up costing the Cowgirls, though.

Getting the 3 seed gives the Cowgirls No. 6 BYU in the quarterfinals at 11 a.m. Thursday after a bye in the first round. OSU took two of three from the Cougars in late March in Provo. A win there would likely set up a Bedlam rematch only a week later in the semis. OSU took the first two games in the Bedlam series this past weekend. The Cowgirls also beat OU in the Big 12 finals in 2022. That semifinal matchup will be at 5 p.m. Friday.

On the other side of the bracket, 1 seed Texas will get the winner of 8 seed Texas Tech and 9 seed Iowa State, while 4 seed Baylor and 5 seed UCF will compete in the other quarterfinal game. ISU is the only team on the other side of the bracket that OSU didn’t beat in a series this season.