A New Jersey high school baseball team pulled off a hidden ball trick in the final inning of a one-run game over the weekend. Delsea Regional executed the play to perfection.
It was a walk off!
Delsea is located in Franklinville, New Jersey and enrolls just over 1,000 students. It hosted Audubon, an even smaller school located about 30 minutes south.
The home team battled back from an early deficit to take a 4-3 lead that carried into the bottom of the seventh. Baseball games only last seven innings on the high school level, so it was the equivalent of the bottom of the ninth.
Things started to get dicey!
The Crusaders allowed the Green Wave to get runners on first and second with two outs. Joe Smith, who is in his 11th year as head baseball coach at Delsea, turned to something that he has used many times before: the hidden ball trick.
We work on it a lot. This is the third time we were actually trying it in six games. We tried it twice [in exhibition games] before the season and it didn’t work. We just felt like with those last two hits that anything can happen with this weather, it was ridiculously windy. We just said, “let’s try it!”
— Head coach Joe Smith, via The Philadelphia Inquirer
Practice makes perfect and the Crusaders masterfully executed the highlight of the year so far.
Senior pitcher George Starr turned back to second base and faked a pick off throw. Second baseman Gavin Witz made it seem like he lost track of the ball. Oh no, it flew into the outfield!!!!!
In that moment, the Audubon runner on second left the bag and took off toward third.
Starr, with the ball still in his glove, chased him down to tag him out for the final out. Game over!
Even the announcer was confused by what transpired. He bought it hook, line and sinker.
If the impressive walk-off trick play was not impressive enough, Witz had just entered into the game and had very little experience on the varsity level. His team had run the trick play many times before but he didn’t have as many reps under his belt. And yet, the young infielder’s performance really sold the play!