Rylie Boone providing spark for Sooners in midst of another standout season

With Oklahoma leading 5-0 in the fifth inning during a game late last month, Kansas outfielder Aynslee Linduff stepped to the plate.

The Jayhawks had struggled offensively the entire game, recording just two hits. But Linduff appeared to make contact on a pitch from Jordy Bahl for a potential double near the right field wall.

But OU outfielder Rylie Boone didn’t give up on the play. The senior made one of the highlight plays of the season, tracking the ball and making a diving catch that fired up her teammates and the crowd at Marita Hynes Field.

After the game, OU coach Patty Gasso said it was one of the best defensive plays she’s seen in a long time. For Boone, the most memorable part was how her teammates responded.

“I really didn’t celebrate because that’s something I would do in practice,” Boone told OUInsider earlier this month. “But I think the highlight was just seeing all my teammates celebrate.”

That ability to energize her team has been on display since she arrived at Oklahoma in 2020.

The Oklahoma native started the first four games of her freshman campaign before suffering a knee injury that kept her out the remainder of the shortened season. Boone saw playing time as a sophomore in 2021 and eventually became a full-time starter in 2022. She started 48 of 60 games that season and was a big part of the Sooners’ national championship run, eventually landing a spot on the Women’s College World Series All-Tournament team.

If there's anything Boone’s brought to the team, it's her energy and passion both on and off the field.

“She’s just a spark,” Gasso said. “... It's just maturity and understanding that she belongs in this lineup. She brings this really fun, exciting energy to the team. She's just well-balanced.

“​​Rylie Boone needs to be talked about more… Not just with her at-bats but with her energy she brings to the dugout, the energy she brings to the base paths… We hit, we pitch, we play defense, but the energy and the attitude and the adrenaline and just this moxie that Boone has sets the tone that makes any team uncomfortable. I know that.”

Boone said her ability to be a spark plug began before her playing days at Owasso High School.

“I’ve always had a lot of passion for the game,” Boone said. “I’m very emotional when I first got here, but I think I’ve learned to not get too high with your emotions and also don’t get too low. Just stay on that neutral ground. What I have developed is I know when to show it and I know when not to.”

This season, Boone has continued her role as one of the most reliable players on the Sooners’ roster, starting in left field in 49 of the team’s 50 games.

Though Boone was known more for her defense when she arrived on campus, she has developed into a reliable offensive player. She’s sixth on the team in runs (30) and hits (35) and third in on-base percentage (.496), which is also a career high.

The main focus for Boone this season has been consistency and maturity.

“I think my offense has developed really good," Boone said. "I think it’s still hard. As I get older and more mature and everything, I think with my at-bats, I don’t take that for granted... I’ve developed a mature approach in the box, developed a more mature way of developing an offense to get better every single day.”

Part of that consistency on offense has been her spot in the batting order. Gasso has regularly deployed Boone in the nine hole, and it’s proved effective.

In one particular April game — with the Sooners trailing Texas 3-1 at home in the bottom of the seventh inning — Boone hit a lead-off single that was followed by a two-run homer from Jayda Coleman. Boone's hit was crucial in the Sooners’ 4-3 win.

“I think Boone in the nine-hole is just a good spark to roll it over to Jayda,” Gasso said. “It’s fun having those two because you can do so many different things. Jayda can hit for power but she can also do some short-game action really well… I really like those two together. I think Boone’s spark sparks others.

“There’s a confidence about her. Just the way she takes a pitch and the way she moves through the box, it’s just this focus and intensity. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more confident watching Rylie Boone at the plate than I am this season… She has really, really been fun to watch.”

With the team's postseason run beginning Friday at the Big 12 Tournament, the Sooners are going to need Boone as they continue their quest for their seventh national championship.

Gasso knows they'll be able to count on her.

"If you want to know an athlete that goes in and gets her work done and gets her swings in, a great example is Rylie Boone," Gasso said. "I've just seen all this come to her as she's gotten older. But just an absolute, tremendous athlete in every way."