Colorado high school wins semifinal on perfectly executed trick play

Colorado high school wins semifinal on trick play

By Michael Clair

May 23, 2015

High school: It's a time of growing, changing and learning how to become an adult. It's also the time to make sure that the pitcher actually threw the baseball before taking off for third. It's a lesson that Colorado's Hotchkiss Bulldogs are going to agonize over.

Trailing 9-8 to Rye in the semifinals, Hotchkiss had pinch-runner Colton Deluzio at second base when Rye pitcher Junior Ortiz spun around and pulled off the greatest fake this side of John Myatt. With the infielders running as if the ball had gone into the outfield, Deluzio took off for third. Unfortunately, Ortiz held onto the ball and chased down the runner for the final out.

(Video by Jason Carter/KRDO)

Said Hotchkiss manager Blake Carlquist after the game:

"I couldn't yell loud enough (to our runner to go back). I couldn't quite get my message relayed to the base runner. You never want a game to end like that, but sometimes that's the way it goes."

The day would only get better for Rye, though. Facing the reigning-champion Resurrection Christian in the final, the team stormed back from a 9-4 deficit to win, 12-10. Though this one was a little more traditional with zero hidden-ball tricks ... we think. After all, if it was a truly great fake, we would never know.

(h/t Deadspin)