Rule question: Deception during a fake.throw

Hopefully Rich will be able to give some words of wisdom on this one.

We had a runners on 1st and 3rd situation in a game today when something happened I never saw before. The pitcher stepped toward 3rd and made what looked like a very hard fake throw, then wheeled and threw to 1st and got that runner sleeping. The strange part was that the pitcher never took the ball out of his glove!

Something about a strange situation always seems wrong to me, and my mind tried to recall the rules about deception, but failed me. As usual, after the game I talked to the umps and asked about that play. They told me the pitcher not having the ball played no part in the play and therefore made no difference.

Of course when I got home, I went straight to OBR and to be honest, couldn't find one thing that would make me dispute the call. But, something still tells me I missed something, so, if anyone can quote anything different, I'd sure appreciate it. BTW, this game was played under NFHS rules.

While I was digging through the OBR, I did come across something else though and thought I'd ask about it while I'm on the subject.

In the following extract from 8.05(c), it sure appears that if an umpire wanted to, he surely could pop a lot of pitchers! I have seen that play a lot, and have never seen a pitcher step off before making the move toward 3rd. I never thought about this particular rule before, but I could swear that many times, the move is a continuing one.

Are there any umps out there who might like to comment?

From OBR 8.05(c) It is possible, with runners on first and third, for the pitcher to step toward third and not throw, merely to bluff the runner back to third; then seeing the runner on first start for second, turn and step toward and throw to first base. This is legal. However, if, with runners on first and third, the pitcher, while in contact with the rubber, steps toward third and then immediately and in practically the same motion "wheels" and throws to first base, it is obviously an attempt to deceive the runner at first base, and in such a move it is practically impossible to step directly toward first base before the throw to first base, and such a move shall be called a balk. Of course, if the pitcher steps off the rubber and then makes such a move, it is not a balk.