​Mainline Pharmacy and Martella’s Pharmacy will meet at 5:30 p.m. Monday at Sargent’s Stadium at the Point to decide the Johnstown Collegiate Baseball League’s regular-season champion. The game marks a clash between the two Johnstown franchises that have earned All American Amateur Baseball Association Tournament titles, making this a marquee showdown. Martella’s Pharmacy became the city’s first AAABA champion in 2018, and Mainline Pharmacy captured the titles in 2023 and 2025, including a 5-0 victory over Martella’s Pharmacy in the 2025 title game.
Holding the regular-season crown also guarantees the champion a spot as one of Johnstown’s two representatives in the AAABA Tournament, independent of playoff results. The playoff winner will carry the Johnstown-1 banner and serve as host for the tournament’s 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.” His counterpart for Monday’s game echoed a similar view.
“The Mainline standard is to make it into the tournament and win it,” said Chance Osborne, manager of Mainline Pharmacy. “The No. 1 spot in the JCBL is definitely important—one game, one day at a time. 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 gain the season-series advantage, as the teams have split their first six meetings. Martella’s Pharmacy holds a 39-31 edge in run differential, largely due to scoring 11 runs in two separate matchups. In their June 10 doubleheader, Martella’s Pharmacy won the first game 11-8, but Mainline Pharmacy answered with a 4-3 nine-inning victory in the nightcap. The squads then split the next two meetings, with Mainline taking 8-3 on June 15 and 8-7 on June 30. Martella’s Pharmacy swept the two most recent meetings, 11-0 in five innings on July 1 and 4-3 on July 6.
“The Martella’s and Mainline games always feel playoff-like,” Osborne said. “Even though the league is relatively balanced, both organizations expect to win—not just in the regular season, but to push through to the tournament.” Both teams sit at 23-4 on the 29-game schedule, and the regular season closes Tuesday, with postseason starting Friday. The regular-season champion will play fourth-seeded The O, while the runner-up will face third-seeded The Hill Group in a best-of-five series. Every team has elevated its intensity with two AAABA Tournament spots on the line.
“This season’s a grind,” Pfeil said. “A part of that grind is that I think your more mature teams learn how to adapt and stay sharp for the postseason.” The backdrop of this rivalry and its high-stakes implications ensures Monday’s game will be more than a regular-season finale; it will be a defining moment as the league shifts toward the postseason chase.