American Fork junior Fisher Ingersoll was just one of many high school baseball players who barely got a season in the spring of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. His school was one of several, however, that competed in a makeshift tournament in order to get some kind of season.
The Cavemen won the 6A bracket of the Last Chance baseball tournament. Then they followed that this past season with the 6A state title. Ingersoll’s role was instrumental for the 30-1 American Fork, leading to him winning the Gatorade Player of the Year award for baseball in Utah.
“I was very proud and just very humbled to receive an award like that,” Ingersoll said. “I’m very blessed to have the teammates [and coaches] that I had because I couldn’t have done it without them.”
The shortstop finished his junior season with four home runs, 13 doubles and seven triples. He batted in 41 runs, scored 44 himself and had a batting average of .610.
Ingersoll is the first baseball player from American Fork to win the Gatorade award.
“That’s a huge honor because there’s been a lot of great players that came through American Fork,” Ingersoll said.
After a difficult 2020, Ingersoll and his teammates wanted to make sure to cherish every moment of the baseball season in 2021, he said.
“We just wanted to soak it all in while we had it because we saw it get taken way from us last year,” Ingersoll said. “So we just wanted to keep having fun, be loose and just enjoy each other.”
Ingersoll is committed to play baseball at BYU. But for his senior season, he is looking forward to learning how to be a better leader to his younger teammates, he said, because he had upperclassmen guide him when he was younger.
While a number of seniors graduated last season, Ingersoll thinks American Fork has an opportunity to repeat as 6A champs.
“We have a lot of returners and I feel like we’re all going to get faster and stronger and just a better IQ,” Ingersoll said. “I think we have a great chance.”
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