After the ball leaves the woman's hand, the only relevant force acting on the ball is the gravity, which produces an acceleration of a=g=9.81 m/s^2 on the baseball, directed downward. Gravity acts on the ball for the whole duration of the motion, so the acceleration of the ball is at every point of the motion, and therefore also when the baseball is at its highest point.
The poles of the magnetic field generated around the armature are attracted to the opposite poles of the permanent magnet. As the opposite poles align, the commutator reverses the current direction so like poles are aligned and the armature continues to spin.
Acceleration is a vector quantity that is defined as the rate at which an object changes its velocity. An object is accelerating if it is changing its velocity.