There’s a lot of “new” in Big 12 Softball for 2025—new programs, traditions, transfers, coaches—you name it.
There are also new expectations and new contenders for the league crown, as the previous flag-bearer is off to new ventures, leaving the throne to be claimed by someone else.
On paper, it appears that Oklahoma State would make the most sense as the next team to lead the Big 12 deep into the postseason, as Kenny Gajewski is easily the best coach in the game that has yet to win a national title. But, there are new faces in the league that might have something to say about that, especially after how things looked across the league through the first weekend of action.
Here’s a look at our first Big 12 softball power rankings of the 2025 season.
1. Arizona Wildcats (5-1)
Talk about making a statement out of the gate. Arizona opened up the season with a 15-0 win over Michigan State, run-ruled No. 11 Alabama, and rebounded from their lone loss to Washington, shutting out the Huskies 4-0. Through one weekend, they lead the Big 12 in batting (.409) and fielding (0.981) despite playing a tougher slate than most.
2. Texas Tech Red Raiders (5-1)
As long as NiJaree Canady remains healthy, Texas Tech is going to be difficult to drop out of the top tier of the Big 12. She’s already pitched 20.2 innings and has 40 strikeouts after one weekend of games, and she also showed power at the plate when she took Jordy Bahl deep in a comeback win over Nebraska.
3. Oklahoma State Cowgirls (2-2)
I’ll be honest, Oklahoma State looked nothing like the team I expected to see this weekend, outside of their opening game against Florida State. The win over Northern Colorado skews the numbers, but blowout losses to La. Tech and Florida State didn’t instill much confidence. They’d better figure things out in a hurry because No. 4 UCLA, No. 24 Kentucky, No. 5 Texas A&M, Auburn, and No. 12 Alabama are on deck in Clearwater (FL) this week.
4. Baylor Bears (3-2)
The three-run loss to the Aggies in College Station is acceptable, but Utah State? C’mon guys. Early season losses don’t mean much in the grand scheme of things, but that’s not a game Baylor should be losing. They’ll get back home this weekend and face Hofstra three times and Oklahoma twice, so we’ll learn a bit more about this team pretty quickly.
5. BYU Cougars (3-0)
There wasn’t a team in the Big 12 that was more dominant than BYU in the opening weekend of the season. The Cougars outscored opponents 31-4 over three games. However, those games were against UC San Diego, Winthrop, and Portland State. Indiana will be a little better gauge for where this team is, but we probably won’t know a lot until they face Duke next week.
7. UCF Knights (5-1)
If UCF could’ve been a little more competitive against Georgia, I probably would’ve had them ahead of Arizona State. However, the 4-0 loss soiled what otherwise was a good opening weekend. Missouri, Texas A&M, and Florida State will give us a good idea of where this team really is to start 2025.
6. Arizona State Sun Devils (3-1)
It’s hard to know how much the wins really mean, but Miami (OH) and Cal were both tournament teams last year, so it can’t hurt to start out the year with victories over those two. Oregon is next up, and they come into the week ranked 20th in the latest poll—it should be a stiff test for the Sun Devils.
8. Utah Utes (3-2)
Like Arizona State, I don’t know what to make of Cal and Miami (OH) this season, so it’s hard to gauge what we got from Utah. However, they split with the two and also lost to Maryland, so they’re a bit lower down than ASU for now.
9. Houston Cougars (5-0)
I’m not falling for this again. Houston started off the 2024 season 11-1 and was blistering teams with a high-scoring offense. Then, they started playing some real competition and ended up winning four games in Big 12 play. Plus, pitching appears to be a serious problem as they gave up 40 runs to the likes of St. John’s, New Mexico, and ULM.
10. Kansas Jayhawks (1-4)
The bad news? Kansas went 1-4 on opening weekend. There is a silver lining, though. All of the losses were close, and three of them came against Clemson, FAU, and Ole Miss—all teams that made the NCAA Tournament a season ago.
11. Iowa State Cyclones (1-4)
A six-run loss to Stony Brook, a run-rule loss to Indiana, and a 1-4 record to begin the year isn’t what Iowa State had in mind. They’ve got some winnable games coming up, but you might want to go ahead and skip that game next Sunday against Florida.
