Day 1 Big 12 Softball Tournament results, updated bracket

The 2024 Big 12 softball tournament started on Wednesday and is scheduled to run through Saturday to name a conference tournament champion. Fans of the competing programs have made their way to the USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium at OGE Energy Field in Oklahoma City, OK, to catch all the action from the opening pitch.

Round one of the tournament saw two matchups to get the action rolling. The opening game was between the No. 7 seed Kansas Jayhawks and the No. 10 seed Houston Cougars. That game was followed by the match between the No. 8 seed Texas Tech Red Raiders and the No. 9 seed Iowa State Cyclones.

In the opening matchup, Kansas had a stranglehold on the game through the first six innings, taking a 6-2 lead into the final frame. However, that was nearly undone by an explosion of offense from Houston. The Cougars put together a three-run inning in the top of the seventh to pull within one run. But a pop fly with the bases loaded thwarted Houston’s attempt at an improbable come-from-behind victory, giving the Jayhawks the 6-5 win.

Kansas must quickly shake off the jitters from that near scare of a collapse as they will take on the defending national champions, the Oklahoma Sooners, in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

In the night’s second game, Iowa State attempted to copy the Jayhawks’ victory blueprint, but they were not as fortunate. The Cyclones took a 9-4 lead into the sixth inning and proceeded to give up three runs to the Red Raiders in the sixth, two solo home runs in the seventh, which tied the game at 9-9, followed by a walk-off solo dinger by Kailey Wyckoff to give Texas Tech the 10- 9 victory.

The Red Raiders will look to keep their hot-hitting streak going in the quarterfinals as they take on the Big 12 regular season champions, the No. 1 seed, and heated in-state rival, the Texas Longhorns, on Thursday evening.

2024 Big 12 Softball Tournament bracket, schedule

First round: Wednesday, May 8

Game 1 – Kansas 6, Houston 5.

Game 2 – Texas Tech 10, Iowa State 9.

Quarterfinals: Thursday, May 9

Game 3 – No. 3 Oklahoma State vs. No. 6 BYU – 11 a.m

Game 4 – No. 2 Oklahoma vs. No. 7 Kansas – 1:30 p.m.

Game 5 – No. 1 Texas vs. Texas Tech – 5 p.m.

Game 6 – No. 4 Baylor vs. No. 5 UCF – 7:30 p.m.

Semifinals: Friday, May 10

Game 7 – Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4 – 5 p.m.

Game 8 – Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 6 – 7:30 p.m.

Championship final: Saturday, May 11

Game 9 – Winner of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 8 – 6:30 p.m.

All times are in CT. First-pitch times are subject to change.