JT Gasso saw a problem.

OU softball’s associate head coach was frustrated at the number of his hitters who were getting called out for stepping out of the batter’s box during their slap-hitting attempts — a tactic used in softball to get an extra jump on beating out infield hits especially.

“A slap is really just put the ball on the ground, place it, and if there’s no one on and you’re not blazing fast, then you’ve really got to basically get a hit (through the infield) or put pressure, make someone dive or whatnot,” Gasso said during his recent weekly appearance on The Franchise Morning Show. “So the footwork was not really matching up.”

So Gasso racked his brain to try to figure out a better solution that had a similar effect but without some of the limitations of the traditional slap approach.

Enter the shuffle.

Entering Monday’s 11 a.m. matchup in the Women’s College World Series semifinals, where they’ll take on either Florida or Alabama, the second-seeded Sooners haven’t used the shuffle a lot. But it’s been an important piece for several of the Sooners’ hitters, especially OU’s “Chaos Coordinators” — Rylie Boone and Jayda Coleman — plus Avery Hodge and sometimes Kasidi Pickering.

More: Inside WCWS reunion of OU softball star Tiare Jennings, UCLA's Maya Brady

“It’s JT,” Sooners coach Patty Gasso said of her son. “I don’t know exactly where he saw it but it might be somewhere in baseball somewhere because he likes to look at … things a lot.”

Boone wasn’t sure about the shuffle when JT Gasso brought it up.

“It’s hard,” Boone said of the footwork required to pull off the move. “But I think it’s just another tool to add that people have to defend. … Honestly I don’t even know where it comes from. JT originated it.”

Boone got the naming rights to the move, dubbing it the “Boone Slap,” picking up the first hit while trying to shuffle, hitting her only home run of the season April 9 against Iowa State, though watching the play it’s hard to see much of a difference.

The difference was apparent earlier in the at-bat, though, on the pitches where Boone didn’t make contact.

It was also much more apparent in Boone’s fourth-inning at-bat in the regular-season finale against Oklahoma State.

With a runner on first, Boone’s back leg crossed her front leg, stepping toward Cowgirls’ pitcher Ivy Rosenberry before hitting a sharp ground ball that ate up the OSU infielder and gave the Sooners a prime scoring chance.

How does Patty Gasso explain the approach?

More: Relive OU softball's run to three straight WCWS titles with our 'Crimson Empire' book

“It’s hard to know what you’re doing,” Gasso said. “It’s like a 'Happy Gilmore' swing, you know? It really is. ‘Where is she going? What is she doing?’ It’s not a typical slap motion, and you’re not slapping it. I mean, you are going to drive it. If your timing is right you’re going to absolutely annihilate the ball.

“They do it at practice, and the infield is … as soon as they start to shuffle they’re just frozen. ‘Oh God, please don’t hit it to me or near me.’”

Like Gilmore’s hockey slapshot-turned-golf swing, the hardest thing is getting the timing right, Boone said.

“Just being able to put a barrel on it,” Boone said. “It’s very handy but it’s something you have to master behind the scenes with your toolbox.”

With Alynah Torres’ injury making it more likely Hodge is in the lineup Monday, the shuffle could play a bigger role moving forward in the WCWS.

“We’ll see where it goes,” Patty Gasso said. “It’s new, it’s somewhat new, so we’re still trying to perfect it.”

WCWS semifinals: OU vs. Florida

11 a.m. Monday at Devon Park (ESPN)

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU softball: JT Gasso's 'Boone slap' gives Sooners another weapon