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OREM — Tyler Ball wasn't helping himself much when American Fork took a 6-1 advantage off the Skyridge starting pitcher through five innings of the first game of the 6A championship series Friday at UCCU Ballpark.
With one swing of the bat, Ball gave himself all the advantage he needed.
Ball's three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth capped a 6-0 inning that rallied the top-seeded Falcons to a 7-6 victory over the Cavemen.
"All the guys just came together," said Ball, who finished 1-for-4 with the go-ahead home run. "Maybe we were a little timid, or had some nerves coming in. But in the sixth inning, we all came together."
A day after Riverton and Mountain Ridge pushed the finalists to the limit, Skyridge (23-6) had two home runs in the bottom of the sixth, including a two-run shot by Mason Thompson.
But it's unlikely either of them would've happened without Kamden Stafford.
The junior struck out on his first two at-bats, but put the ball in play for a base hit to start the sixth. And the rest was history.
"I'm really proud of him," Skyridge coach Ryan Roberts said of Stafford. "It's really easy to get down in a situation like that; he had two bad at-bats, and he came to me on the bench and said, 'my bad; those at-bats sucked, but I'm here now.' He stayed in there, and hit that ball the other way.
"Tyler Ball is special," Roberts added. "He's going to play professional baseball, and BYU is lucky to get him. He's a tremendous leader, and clutch the entire year. … Every guy on the team loves him. I wish he would marry my daughter; he's the best dang player."
Skyridge entered the championship series with the top seed, but the Cavemen struck first with the top of the first including a two-run double by Dax Watts.
American Fork took a 3-1 lead into the fifth, when Cooper Jones drove in another run and scored on a pair of stolen bases to push the advantage to 6-1.
In all, the Cavemen pulled six runs off seven hits in six innings off Ball, who had four strikeouts and four walks to earn the win on the mound.
But Thompson had a two-run homer to start the sixth-inning rally for Skyridge, and Ball added his two-out, three-run bomb over the same left-field fence to turn a 6-1 deficit into a 7-6 advantage.
It's not the first time Ball has come up big from the plate against American Fork. The BYU commit smacked his fourth home run in four games against the Cavemen with Friday's shot.
"I don't know what it is," Ball said sheepishly. "I've really enjoyed playing against them. It's just the moment, I guess."
Thompson finished 3-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored, and Isaac Johanson went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored to lead the Falcons.
Watts was 2-for-3 with three RBIs to lead American Fork, which will try to force a winner-take-all third game with a win Saturday at 11 a.m. MDT at UCCU Ballpark.
