It’s April 15, which means there are just a couple of weeks left between now and the Big 12 Softball Tournament in Oklahoma City.
The 2025 season has been incredibly challenging when it comes to establishing the hierarchy of the league, and heading into the biggest weekend of the regular season schedule, there appears to be a decent gap between the top two teams and the rest of the field.
1. Texas Tech Red Raiders (Last Week: 2)
Record: 34-9 (14-1 Big 12)
There hasn’t been much of a challenge for Texas Tech in Big 12 play yet, as they’ve rattled off four straight sweeps and have just one loss in league play. That will change this weekend, though, as the Red Raiders will face the only Big 12 team with a better winning percentage than theirs.
2. Arizona Wildcats (Last Week: 1)
Record: 36-7 (13-5 Big 12)
Arizona’s inconsistency has landed it four games behind Texas Tech in the standings, but this past weekend, they picked up some steam with a dominant sweep over Kansas. The Wildcats outscored the Jayhawks 28-4 over a three-game series and appear to be hitting their stride with the TTU series on deck.
3. Iowa State Cyclones (Last Week: 4)
Record: 20-18 (9-6 Big 12)
Iowa State’s turnaround season continues with a series victory over Oklahoma State. Their nine wins in Big 12 play is a new program record and they should have plenty of chances to build upon that total with how they’re playing as of late.
4. Arizona State Sun Devils (Last Week: 5)
Record: 31-14 (11-7 Big 12)
Don’t look now, but Arizona State is starting to heat up. The Sun Devils are 7-1 in their last eight games and have one of the better arms in the Big 12 right now with Kenzie Brown (1.20 ERA) playing some of her best ball right now.
5. Oklahoma State Cowgirls (Last Week: 3)
Record: 24-14 (6-7 Big 12)
This might be one of the toughest regular-season stretches that we’ve seen from a Kenny Gajewski team, as Oklahoma State has now lost five of their last six games. The Pokes have made it to Oklahoma City in each of the last five Women’s College World Series, but right now that feels like a longshot.
6. UCF Knights (Last Week: 7)
Record: 25-18-1 (6-9 Big 12)
UCF needed to pick up a win this weekend at BYU to stabilize themselves, and they did just that with wins on Thursday and Friday. Now, the Knights will hope to capitalize on a struggling Oklahoma State team when they travel to Stillwater this weekend.
7. BYU Cougars (Last Week: 6)
Record: 26-12 (8-7 Big 12)
BYU is one of the hardest teams to get a bead on this year, as there are times that they look like a shoo-in to make the NCAA Tournament. However, this weekend’s loss to UCF certainly hurt their chances of doing so and puts them in a tough spot with Utah, Baylor, and Texas Tech left on the schedule.
8. Baylor Bears (Last Week: 9)
Record: 21-21 (7-8 Big 12)
Baylor has won six straight games and is 5-1 in their last six Big 12 games, but how much can we glean from wins over UTSA and Abilene Christian?
9. Kansas Jayhawks (Last Week: 10)
Record: 17-20 (4-11 Big 12)
It was a tough weekend for the Jayhawks, as Arizona’s offensive prowess proved too potent.
10. Utah Utes (Last Week: 8)
Record: 12-30 (4-11 Big 12)
Utah continues to struggle this season as they’ve now lost seven games in a row and are just 4-11 in Big 12 play.
11. Houston Cougars (Last Week: 11)
Record: 20-19 (3-13 Big 12)
I thought that maybe, just maybe, this Cougars team was different than the one I saw last year. Now, they’re 3-13 in Big 12 play and appear to be a tier below the rest of the league.
