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Mainline Pharmacy and Martella’s Pharmacy will play at 5:30 p.m. Monday at Sargent’s Stadium at the Point to decide the Johnstown Collegiate Baseball League’s regular-season title.
It is a matchup of the only Johnstown franchises to claim All American Amateur Baseball Association Tournament titles.
Martella’s Pharmacy became the first team from the city to win in 2018. Mainline Pharmacy took home gold in 2023 and 2025. Mainline Pharmacy beat Martella’s Pharmacy 5-0 in the 2025 title game.
The league’s regular-season champion will also assure itself a spot as one of the Johnstown franchise’s two representatives in the AAABA Tournament, regardless of playoff result. The playoff winner will carry the Johnstown-1 banner and serve as the tournament’s host squad, playing in the night games at Sargent’s Stadium at the Point.
“It’s a one-game playoff before the playoffs,” Martella’s Pharmacy manager Kerry Pfeil said. “When you get the No. 1 seed, it’s always nice because you lock in the spot in the tournament, in case you slip up in the playoffs.”
Pfeil counterpart in Monday’s clash shares a similar sentiment.
“The Mainline standard is to make it into the tournament and win in the tournament,” Mainline Pharmacy manager Chance Osborne said. “The No. 1 spot (in the JCBL) is definitely important – one game at a time mentality. We like to keep the tradition going up, and I think we’re doing that.
“The ultimate goal is to be Johnstown Team 1.”
The winner will clinch the season series since the perennial contenders have split their first six meetings. Martella’s Pharmacy has a 39-31 advantage in run differential thanks to scoring 11 runs in two separate meetings. The squads split a June 10 doubleheader when Martella’s Pharmacy won the first game 11-8 and Mainline Pharmacy rebounded with a 4-3 triumph in nine innings during the second contest.
Mainline Pharmacy took the next two matchups, 8-3 June 15 and 8-7 June 30. Martella’s Pharmacy prevailed in the two most recent meetings, 11-0 in five innings July 1 and 4-3 July 6.
“The Martella’s and Mainline games, it always seems like the intensity is at a playoff-like atmosphere,” Osborne said. “Even though the league is pretty balanced, the expectations of both organizations is to win. Not just win in the regular season, but to complete into the tournament.”
Both Mainline Pharmacy and Martella’s Pharmacy are 23-4 during the 29-game schedule. The regular season ends Tuesday, with the postseason to begin Friday. The regular-season champion will play fourth-seeded The O, and the runner-up will face third-seeded The Hill Group in a best-of-5 series.
Every team has picked up the intensity with two spots in the AAABA Tournament on the line.
“This season’s a grind,” Pfeil said. “A part of that grind is I think your more mature teams learn how to adjust. They learn how to compete. You try to take advantages of your opponent’s weaknesses. Really what it’s about when that calendar hits July, it’s really turning it on if you want to play in August in the tournament and represent our city.”
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It is a matchup of the only Johnstown franchises to claim All American Amateur Baseball Association Tournament titles.
Martella’s Pharmacy became the first team from the city to win in 2018. Mainline Pharmacy took home gold in 2023 and 2025. Mainline Pharmacy beat Martella’s Pharmacy 5-0 in the 2025 title game.
The league’s regular-season champion will also assure itself a spot as one of the Johnstown franchise’s two representatives in the AAABA Tournament, regardless of playoff result. The playoff winner will carry the Johnstown-1 banner and serve as the tournament’s host squad, playing in the night games at Sargent’s Stadium at the Point.
“It’s a one-game playoff before the playoffs,” Martella’s Pharmacy manager Kerry Pfeil said. “When you get the No. 1 seed, it’s always nice because you lock in the spot in the tournament, in case you slip up in the playoffs.”
Pfeil counterpart in Monday’s clash shares a similar sentiment.
“The Mainline standard is to make it into the tournament and win in the tournament,” Mainline Pharmacy manager Chance Osborne said. “The No. 1 spot (in the JCBL) is definitely important – one game at a time mentality. We like to keep the tradition going up, and I think we’re doing that.
“The ultimate goal is to be Johnstown Team 1.”
The winner will clinch the season series since the perennial contenders have split their first six meetings. Martella’s Pharmacy has a 39-31 advantage in run differential thanks to scoring 11 runs in two separate meetings. The squads split a June 10 doubleheader when Martella’s Pharmacy won the first game 11-8 and Mainline Pharmacy rebounded with a 4-3 triumph in nine innings during the second contest.
Mainline Pharmacy took the next two matchups, 8-3 June 15 and 8-7 June 30. Martella’s Pharmacy prevailed in the two most recent meetings, 11-0 in five innings July 1 and 4-3 July 6.
“The Martella’s and Mainline games, it always seems like the intensity is at a playoff-like atmosphere,” Osborne said. “Even though the league is pretty balanced, the expectations of both organizations is to win. Not just win in the regular season, but to complete into the tournament.”
Both Mainline Pharmacy and Martella’s Pharmacy are 23-4 during the 29-game schedule. The regular season ends Tuesday, with the postseason to begin Friday. The regular-season champion will play fourth-seeded The O, and the runner-up will face third-seeded The Hill Group in a best-of-5 series.
Every team has picked up the intensity with two spots in the AAABA Tournament on the line.
“This season’s a grind,” Pfeil said. “A part of that grind is I think your more mature teams learn how to adjust. They learn how to compete. You try to take advantages of your opponent’s weaknesses. Really what it’s about when that calendar hits July, it’s really turning it on if you want to play in August in the tournament and represent our city.”
Continue reading...
