Trick Play Helps Mississippi High School Baseball Team Win State 6A Title

 The high school team from Southaven High School in Mississippi turn to an old pickoff play known as the "Ol' Wichita Pickoff" to help propel them to the State 6A Championship. See the play here. 

The Wichita pickoff apparently consists of a remarkably brazen move where the pitcher fakes a pick off to second base, then has the shortstop point to the outfield as if trying to tell a confused outfielder where the ball was sitting. Instead, the pitcher is still holding the ball, with the base runner suddenly caught if he dares think that the throw back to the bag did go awry.


 Yet this particularly pickoff play was more than just a gimmick, it also came at a remarkably important point in a state championship series. The trick pickoff was used by Southaven (Miss.) senior pitcher Wyatt Short against Gulfport (Miss.) Harrison Central High during the opening game of the best-of-three Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A state title series.

In fact, the play came in the top of the seventh inning, with the unnamed Harrison Central runner standing on second base and representing a prospective go-ahead run.


Instead, Short’s timely pickoff thinking earned Southaven a huge second out in its final defensive frame, with Short retiring the following batter to get out of the inning. In the following half inning Nic Short delivered a walk-off ground out after Southaven had loaded the bases, giving the school -- and his brother -- a victory in the first game of the title series.

That win set the stage for a dominant remainder of the series for Southaven, which cruised to an 8-2 victory in the second game to earn the school a Class 6A crown.

All because of the ol' Wichita Pickoff. Nice move Southaven! And congrats on the State Title.