Flip out! Minor Leaguer sends club to Finals, nails perfect backflip

Double-A Amarillo punched its ticket to the 2026 Texas League Finals after an epic seesaw series. The Sod Poodles erased a six-run deficit with their backs to the wall on Thursday before holding on for an 8-7 nail-biting win over Frisco at Riders Field on Friday night.

So, yeah, D-backs prospect Alfred Morillo was pumped up.

The righty was so amped that after securing the game-ending strikeout in the bottom of the ninth, he immediately ripped off his glove and executed a perfect backflip in one smooth motion. Catcher Alberto Barriga (AZ No. 16) sprinted out to the mound to join him with the rest of the Sod Poodles spilling out of the dugout to join the celebration.

For years, left-hander Jefry Yan was Minor League Baseball’s preeminent celebration artist. He gained notoriety for his emphatic punctuation of strikeouts, which he finally got to bring to The Show this season with the Mets. But this was something else.

Amarillo -- led by Druw Jones (AZ No. 23), son of Hall of Famer Andruw Jones -- will take on a Springfield club chock full of Cardinals top prospects in a best-of-3 series that gets underway Sunday. 

If this was the celebration for the semifinals, what could the Soddies have in store if they secure their third Texas League title in seven years?