Things could not have gone worse for the Arizona Wildcats over the weekend. They traveled to Utah where they just needed to win as many games as Oklahoma State to stay in second place in the conference. With the Utes fighting just to get into the Big 12 Softball Tournament, it seemed like something Arizona should have been able to do. It turned out not to be so easy.
The Wildcats slipped to third, meaning they will match up with in-state rival Arizona State in the opening round of the conference tournament.
That matchup comes as the result of changes to the tournament field this season.
The Big 12 has always included all of its teams in its conference tournament. Last year, all 11 teams made it with the first day featuring games between No. 6 and No. 11, No. 7 and No. 10, and No. 8 vs No. 9. The 8/9 winner advanced to play the No. 1 seed. The 7/10 winner went up against the No. 2 seed, and the 6/11 winner faced the No. 3 seed. The 4/5 game was already set with the top five teams advancing to day two automatically.
With only eight teams in this year’s field, everyone plays on the opening day of the tournament. Play begins on Thursday, May 7.
- Game 1: No. 5 Kansas Jayhawks (34-18, 14-10) vs No. 4 UCF Knights (38-15-1, 14-9-1) at 9 a.m. MST
- Game 2: No. 8 Baylor Bears (28-25, 10-14) vs No. 1 Texas Tech Red Raiders (50-5, 21-3) at 11:30 a.m. MST
- Game 3: No. 7 Utah Utes (35-19-1, 10-13-1) vs No. 2 Oklahoma State Cowgirls (37-14, 16-8) at 3 p.m. MST
- Game 4: No. 6 Arizona State Sun Devils (38-16, 11-13) vs No. 3 Arizona Wildcats (35-15, 16-8) at 5:30 p.m. MST
The winners of Game 1 and Game 2 will play each other in the semifinals on Friday as will the winners of Game 3 and Game 4. The winners of those games will play for the title on Saturday at 9 a.m. on ESPN. All games before the championship will be streamed on ESPN+.
