Delsea’s hidden ball trick goes viral: ‘This is something that they’ll never forget’

Joe Smith and his Delsea baseball team are relishing the spotlight after Saturday’s win over Audubon High School that used a bit of trickery.

Delsea executed a hidden ball trick to secure a 4-3 victory over a tough Audubon squad, with video of the final out surfacing across social media.

Audubon had runners on first and second in the seventh inning. With the Crusaders’ lead in jeopardy, Smith, a history special education teacher at Delsea and in his 11th year as head coach, turned to a play he has used numerous times over his career.

“We work on it a lot. This is the third time we were actually trying it in six games,” Smith said of using the hidden ball trick play. “We tried it twice 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.’”

And their execution was quite masterful.

Delsea senior pitcher George Starr faked a pick-off attempt to second. Sophomore infielder Gavin Witz gave the impression it was a wild throw, pulling the Audubon runner off second base.

Starr, with the ball in his hand, immediately chased the runner and tagged him out to end the game.

“A few trick plays had been in the bag for years, you don’t get to use them too much,” Smith said. “But we do go over it just as part of the practice plan and refresh their memories. The impressive part was [Witz], he just came into the game and has limited varsity experience. He ran it like a veteran.

“It was fun to watch, obviously when I called the play I never thought in a million years it would get this much attention. It ended the game which has a different twist to it, but we had pulled this off probably a dozen times in my career. It probably works 1 of 8 tries.”

Delsea trailed for most of the game. After being down 3-0, the Crusaders scored two runs in the fifth and two in sixth with Starr, who’s committed to play baseball at Goldey-Beacom College next year, hitting the game-tying RBI.

“He’s been our leader for years,” Smith said. “He’s totally intuned in games, he’s focused. He pays attention to the small details. He’s a kid that wants to run that play. He’s looking over at me like, ‘Coach, let’s do it.’”

The aftermath that followed was nothing the team could have imagined. Sunday morning, Smith woke up to see the play on SportsCenter’s Top 10 Daily.

The texts and phone calls started to roll in, and the excitement carried over to Monday’s school day as teachers and students complimented them for the win.

“Not many people have ever heard of Franklinville, New Jersey,” Smith said. “For our community, our school, our team, and especially our players, this is something that they’ll never forget.

“Kids are texting me ‘Coach, we’re on TikTok, we’re on this site.’ I couldn’t even keep up. It’s been a whirlwind. Every class that comes in there’s a couple of kids that have seen it somewhere. Teachers are saying, ‘We’re famous.’”

He’s letting the team enjoy the moment, Smith said, but soon there’s another game to worry about. Delsea (5-1) will face Deptford on Monday at 4 p.m.

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For the past two years, the Crusaders have made it the South Jersey Group 3 championship. They won it in 2022, but fell in 2023. Smith hopes to return to the final again this year — this time finish the job.

However the season may go, Smith said, Saturday’s moment will forever be part of Delsea baseball history and a memory the team won’t forget.

“If we end up with a state championship or without a state championship,” he added, “this is going to be one of the biggest highlights of their life, not only in their baseball career.”