Mainline Pharmacy left fielder Brody Roberts held two MVP trophies and a championship team plaque near home plate at Sargent’s Stadium at the Point Saturday night.
Mainline Pharmacy’s Calvin Iseminger celebrates with teammates after his team defeated Martella’s Pharmacy 5-0 to claim the 80th All American Amateur Baseball Association championship at Sargent’s Stadium at the Point in Johnstown, PA., Saturday, Aug.9, 2025.
JOHN RUCOSKY
Appropriately, Roberts had carried a heavy load as Mainline Pharmacy won the 80th All American Amateur Baseball Association Tournament in a historic meeting of two Johnstown teams in the title contest.
Mainline Pharmacy defeated Martella’s Pharmacy 5-0 in front of 3,004 fans, most of whom either wore Mainline blue or Martella’s orange in the stadium both teams called home.
“They’re a great team. We’ve battled them all year,” said Brody Roberts, who earned both the AAABA Tournament and Tribune-Democrat most valuable player awards. “Being able to win here against them, our guys really came out with great pitching. We did our job and that’s what got us the championship.”
Roberts finished the tournament 12-for-27 with a .444 batting average, a double, three RBIs and nine runs scored. He was perfect on four stolen base attempts and provided steady defense in left field.
Both Mainline Pharmacy and Martella’s Pharmacy finished the tournament with a 5-1 record.
Mainline Pharmacy won four straight games after falling to Altoona Cumming Motors Tuesday night. Martella’s Pharmacy had won five straight games to open the tournament, including an impressive 5-4 win over perennial power New Orleans in Friday’s semifinal.
First-year manager Chance Osborne’s Mainline Pharmacy squad continued its season-long hold over Martella’s Pharmacy by winning for the ninth time in 12 games the teams played.
Mainline Pharmacy went 5-2 over Martella’s Pharmacy during the regular season and won the Johnstown Collegiate Baseball League championship series 3-1.
The AAABA Tournament began to regularly include two Johnstown teams during the 2009 tournament, when the former Washington, D.C., franchise abruptly pulled out two days before the event, and a substitute was needed on short notice.
Johnstown teams occasionally have met during the tournament week in the past, but never had each advanced to the championship game until Saturday.
“It’s very exciting to be a part of the first Johnstown versus Johnstown matchup,” said Mainline Pharmacy pitcher Josh Bryson, who threw seven scoreless innings to earn his second win of the tournament. “It’s definitely something different. It definitely felt odd for some of the fans, but still a very good game.”
After the game, both teams joined the AAABA ambassadors for the traditional post-tournament group photograph.
Osborne and Martella’s Pharmacy manager Kerry Pfeil embraced each other after posing for a photograph together.
“It’s amazing on multiple levels,” Pfeil said of the historic implications of Saturday’s game. “I grew up here in Johnstown. The memories with my mom and dad, especially with my brother (Martella’s Pharmacy GM Chris Pfeil), who I get to coach with.
“Chance and I coached together at Johnstown, and I have the utmost respect for his dad and Chance,” Pfeil said of AAABA Hall of Fame member Dee Dee Osborne. “I remember when Chance was serving in the military, I’d spend Christmas with Dee Dee just to pick his spirits up a little bit.”
Dee Dee Osborne led several successful Johnstown teams to the AAABA Tournament in the 1980s and 1990s, including the Pepsi-Cola powerhouse. But none of those reached the title game.
His health has prevented Dee Dee Osborne from attending tournament games this year after he made it to the official opener Monday.
“I stopped at his house before the game,” Chance Osborne said.
Martella’s Pharmacy had allowed only two runs through its first four games and gave up four in a one-run win over perennial power New Orleans Friday in a semifinal.
Mainline Pharmacy broke a scoreless game with a three-run third inning. No. 9 hitter Erik Rhodes doubled to left field and scored on Brody Roberts’ single to left.
“I said the first time, words can’t even describe the feeling,” said Rhodes, one of four players on the roster who also were in the 2023 AAABA title game win. “The night games – those fans keep us going all week. We got it done again.”
Cayden Turner singled, and Conner McTighe plated a run with a base hit and Teague Hoover drove in one on a sacrifice fly.
Mainline Pharmacy pushed the margin to 4-0 after Turner doubled, David Kessler singled, and Turner scored on an errant throw to second on a first-and-third steal situation. The champs added an unearned run in the top of the ninth.
The support was enough for Bryson, who struck out seven and walked two while throwing 93 pitches – 62 for strikes. The right-hander had a no-hitter for 4 2/3 innings.
Reliever Chase Williamson pitched two scoreless innings and recorded the final out on Boden Fernsler’s soft liner to second baseman Teague Hoover.
“There was a bunch of adrenaline, definitely, big game, championship game,” Bryson said. “But I just went out there and did what I do normally. I go out and throw and win.”
Mainline Pharmacy won the AAABA Tournament title in 2023, five years after Martella’s Pharmacy ended the host city’s championship drought by claiming the 2018 crown in the 74th event.
Including both Johnstown-1 and Johnstown-2 teams, the host city is now 3-11 in AAABA Tournament championship games, after adding one win and one loss to the total this year.
Other AAABA Tournament award winners included New Orleans’ Drew Bourgeois, batting title (.706 average); RBI co-leaders Hoover of Mainline and Derek Smail of New Brunswick (10); and Buffalo took the sportsmanship award.