Possibly if less than 2 strikes a gadget throw to the shortstop -who has move in towards home plate somewhat and then throws home to catch the third base runner IF he takes the bait- I saw that work in a hs baseball game a few weeks ago… but agree that’s very risky…. but never do it with 2 strikes unless you want to lose ! ** Edited by sacramento hokie at 4/5/2026, 4:40:01 PM ** Edited by sacramento hokie at 4/5/2026, 4:42:23 PM

coach sent the runner from 1st thinking we would not throw down. We ran the fake cutter 2b behind the pitcher to hold the runner at third. Throw goes through to short covering second, tag made, game over. Big win against HS rival in Class 4 VA. I know its HS but the defensive scheme was taken from VT's playbook under CST...the true risk is if the hitter puts it in play on a hit n run cusz you have two infielders moving, but its rare to see hit n run with runner on third and you are down 1 with 2 outs. Just FYI...got to know your opponenent and your team to pull it off - but we worked on it and did similar all through travel ball too (14U up)...

Reminds me of something Bobby Knight once said - "Practice makes perfect? No - perfect practice makes perfect."

spot she (the second baseman) can determine whether to cut or let the throw go through. Same as you mentioned but not predetermined. A good college team should be able to run that play effectively. I have used that play intermittently in travel and high school over the years depending on the skill level of the team. And I got that play from a guy who taught CST quite a lot.

can be trouble...in our case that day, we were throwing through cuz our catcher had a gun and SS could make the catch/tag...

Faking a broken wing to distract a predator