Longtime rivals Texas and Oklahoma are primed to go out in style in their final Big 12 seasons before joining the Southeastern Conference.

Texas (47-7) claimed the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Division I Softball Tournament on Sunday, despite losing to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship game 5-1 on Saturday. The Longhorns open regional play Friday at home against Siena.

Oklahoma (49-6), the three-time defending national champion, is the No. 2 overall seed. The Sooners will start their path toward what would be an unprecedented fourth straight national title when they open at home against Cleveland State on Friday.

Oklahoma defeated Texas in the best-of-three championship series in 2022 to claim the national title.

All the regionals are double elimination, with the winners advancing to Super Regionals. The Super Regional winners will advance to the Women’s College World Series starting May 30 and ending June 6 or 7 in Oklahoma City.

The top 16 seeds are hosts in regional play. Tennessee is No. 3, followed by No 4 Florida, No. 5 Oklahoma State, No. 6 UCLA, No. 7 Missouri, No. 8 Stanford, No. 9 LSU and No. 10 Duke.

Oklahoma State’s No. 5 seed means the Big 12 as it stands gained three of the top five seeds. Oklahoma State might have been seeded higher had it not lost to BYU 7-2 in the Big 12 quarterfinals on Thursday.

With Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Florida claiming the top four seeds, teams that will be in the SEC next year claimed the top four overall seeds.

Oklahomans impacted by recent severe weather can utilize free legal help.

Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Indian Legal Services partner together to create a disaster recovery network in the state for civil legal issues stemming from disaster.

“There are so many disaster survivors who end up having legal problems,” said Christa Figgins, director of mission advancement for LAOK. “And those are legal problems, which if they are not addressed, can really frustrate and really prevent someone from being able to recover from a disaster event.”

Common issues that legal assistance can help with include: recovering lost documents, processing insurance claims, tenant rights, contractor scams, and FEMA applications.

“I think we’re very fortunate in Oklahoma,” Figgins said. “The disaster community in Oklahoma is, sadly, very experienced.”

More information about the free legal services is available at oklahomadisasterlegalhelp.org or by calling 888-602-8494.

The Oklahoma State Cowboys’ signing of a veteran guard out of the transfer portal if official as of Saturday. Western Kentucky transfer guard Brandon Newman — a former player of new Cowboys head coach Steve Lutz — committed to the program a couple of days ago and is now an official member of the team.

Newman began his career at Purdue, where he redshirted during the 2019-20 season. He then went on to play with the program for three seasons, playing in 88 contests, logging 30 starts. Newman averaged 6.3 points per game for the Boilermakers.

The 6-foot-5 guard then transferred to Western Kentucky to play for Lutz, who coached him for one season at Purdue as an assistant. Newman averaged 10.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game at Western Kentucky. Now, he’s following his former head coach once again as he is making the move to Stillwater.

“Experience matters in this game,” Lutz said in a release. “Brandon has been to four straight NCAA tournaments and played a major role in our postseason success at Western Kentucky and Purdue. He’s a skilled guard who can shoot, rebound and defend at a high level, and he’s a great guy, as well. We’re excited that he’ll be joining us at OSU.”

The former four-star recruit had plenty of solid offers coming out of high school before joining Purdue. Now, having played four seasons of college basketball and having been in college for five years — Newman provides some incredible experience for an Oklahoma State roster that needs it.

Lutz has now added five transfers to his class, tagging along with four-star high school recruit Jeremiah Johnson. Building onto a roster of three returners — those being Jamyron Keller, Connor Dow and Bryce Thompson — Lutz has done a good job bringing in players who fit the team’s identity and future play style.

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