Texas top softball seed over defending champ OU

Oklahoma has won the past three Women’s College World Series championships. But its Red River rival Texas on Sunday received the No. 1 overall seed in the 2024 NCAA softball tournament for the first time in program history.

The Sooners (49-6) defeated the Longhorns 5-1 on Saturday night to win their ninth Big 12 tournament title. But Texas (47-7) captured the Big 12 regular-season crown in its final year as a member of the conference, highlighted by a series victory over Oklahoma in early April.

Oklahoma is seeded second. SEC regular-season champion Tennessee got the No. 3 overall seed, followed by No. 4 Florida, which won the SEC tournament title.

No. 5 Oklahoma State, No. 6 UCLA, No. 7 Missouri and No. 8 Stanford round out the top eight, all of which will host super regionals if they advance from the opening round next weekend.

Texas ended the regular season with 16 straight victories, a streak that began with a pair of wins over Oklahoma. But the Sooners made a late push for the No. 1 seed for a fifth year in a row. Oklahoma left-handed pitcher Kelly Maxwell shut down Texas’ powerful lineup in the Big 12 tournament title game, striking out seven while giving up only two hits over 5⅓ innings.

The committee ultimately valued the Longhorns’ overall body of work more.

“We constantly had Texas in the No. 1 seed,” selection committee chair Kurt McGuffin said during Sunday’s selection show. McGuffin added that the Longhorns’ national-best 16 wins against top-25 opponents helped sway the committee.

Texas is led by Reese Atwood, who leads the country with 86 RBIs. She is batting .427 with 22 home runs.

The Longhorns (.383) and Sooners (.367) are No. 1 and 2 in the nation in batting average. McGuffin noted that Texas and Oklahoma were the clear top two seeds.

Texas will host Siena, along with Northwestern and Saint Francis (Pa.) in its regional.

Oklahoma’s regional will include Cleveland State, Oregon and Boston.

Tennessee will face Dayton, Virginia and Miami (Ohio), which leads the nation with 157 home runs.

The remaining top 16 seeds went to No. 9 LSU, No. 10 Duke, No. 11 Georgia, No. 12 Arkansas, No. 13 Louisiana, No. 14 Alabama, No. 15 Florida State and No. 16 Texas A&M, which finished third in the SEC standings.

The bracket is set! 🥎

👉 https://t.co/lFjn81afj4#RoadToWCWS pic.twitter.com/PcVMxDcxkB

— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) May 12, 2024

Of the top 16 seeds, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Oklahoma State, Stanford, Alabama and defending national runner-up Florida State advanced to the WCWS last year.

The SEC paced the field with half of the top 16 seeds, not including Texas and Oklahoma, which will join the conference next season.

BYU, Louisville, Texas Tech and Wichita State were the first four left out of the tournament, according to ESPN’s selection show.

Regionals begin Friday, with super regionals set for May 23-26. The Women’s College World Series begins May 30 in Oklahoma City, with the finals June 5-7.