Quoted from jayhawkai:There was talk of redoing the code to fix that, but not sure how far anyone got with that. If it held over from ball to ball, that would be a big step in the right direction. Otherwise you have to cross your fingers for an "Advance to Class 6 River" mystery award.
There is a hold bonus that will carry it over to the next ball. You only have to get to 6 once. Both islands can light a letter. Not that hard to do.