Establishing a Legacy: American Fork takes third state championship in five years with a 6-2 win over Lehi
Jarod Ingersoll isn’t the type of coach to highlight his remarkable accomplishments, but what he’s establishing for American Fork baseball is impossible to ignore.
The Cavemen secured their third 6A state championship in five years on Saturday, defeating Lehi 6-2 on the heels of Friday night’s 10-0 win over the same Pioneer team to take home the first-place trophy.
While Ingersoll preferred to congratulate and console every Pioneer player while deferring postgame television interviews to his assistant coaches, his players spoke boldly of what’s going on at American Fork.
“It’s the Ingersoll legacy,” said senior first baseman Brandon Upham. “It will live on forever.”
What also seemingly went on forever was the shot Upham hit to left field in the top of the third inning to jumpstart his team.
“I just got up there and knew I had to get the job done for my team,” Upham described. “He threw me two sliders in the dirt, and I knew I was going to get a fastball…and I knew I had to make him pay.”
It was Upham’s third home run of the season with all three coming against Lehi throughout the year.
The Pioneers responded in unusual fashion the bottom half of the third.
Ozzie Williams led off the inning with a single, and then was able to round all the bases for a run following a an errant pickoff attempt. The ball became lodged between a fence post and the ground, and was thought to be out-of-bounds by the American Fork bench, but the umpiring crew disagreed and Lehi was awarded a run to tie things at 1-1.
“Yeah, that’s a new one to me,” Ingersoll said. “Ball goes out of bounds and it’s three bases, but we talk all year about moving past things. I didn’t want to let it go, but I knew I had to let it go. The kids did a great job of being resilient and not being phased by it.”
Unable to be phased throughout the game, and indeed for the entire season for the Cavemen, was Kenny Johnson. The junior pitcher buckled down and got his team out of the inning without incurring more damage and then finished out for the complete game effort in which he gave up no earned runs.
“Kenny is that good,” Ingersoll said. “It’s kind of a shorter day’s rest than we usually have him on, but we know what we’re going to get when he’s on the mound.”
It was the second time in two nights that the Cavemen received complete game efforts from the mound with senior star CJ Mascaro pitching seven complete in his team’s 10-0 win over the Pioneers on Friday.
“Our pitching has been awesome,” Ingersoll said. “We have two pitching coaches who work in harmony with each other. Kenny just came out and just did his job like he’s done all year. I’m super proud of him and what he was able to accomplish as a junior and I’m looking forward to have him back as a senior leader for us.”
The two pitching coaches mentioned by Ingersoll are assistant coaches Scott Jeppson and Brandon Devereaux.
American Fork broke things open in the top half of the sixth, scoring five runs to take a commanding 6-1 lead. Highlighting the effort was senior Max Miller, roping a bases-clearing double to right-center field.
“I was just sitting curveball,” Miller said. “Bases were loaded and I knew something big was going to happen…I was just doing my job. One through nine. We were special.”
‘One through nine’ is a refrain mentioned widely by the entire American Fork team, and it’s a concept the team has utilized throughout its championship season. It refers to everyone in the order, no matter at the top or bottom, being able to come through with big hits at any juncture of any game.
“Every game it’s been different people,” Ingersoll confirmed. “One through nine are stepping up and getting the job done. It’s been awesome to let them just pass the baton, give unselfish at-bats, and one through nine has been great.”
The No. 9 hitter on Saturday was Upham, who followed up his solo home run in the third inning with an RBI single to top off the scoring the sixth.
“It was just my teammates doing their job before me,” Upham said. “I just needed to take a deep breath, relax and do my job.”
Simply-put, Upham just did what Ingersoll has implored from his entire team, with one through nine in the lineup dutifully executing.
“We use the phrase, ‘Us,’ to focus on what we’re doing and what we’re about,” Ingersoll said. “It’s simple and it’s cliche, but I think it’s very effective to just focus on what we do.”
Although he doesn’t yearn for it, what Ingersoll is accomplishing at American Fork deserves a lot of focus for not only coming out on top three times in five seasons, but for doing it the right way. It all looked relatively easy for the Cavemen, considering the run totals in both games in the championship series, on top of how they performed throughout the season, but Ingersoll is the first to point out that the process is always arduous.
“I wish it was that easy and that common around here, but it’s a credit to the kids we have come through the program,” Ingersoll concluded. “They buy in and we have a coaching staff and community that loves baseball, and it’s a baseball place.”
