AAABA 2026 | Martella's Pharmacy pulls away from Altoona-2 to even record at 1-1

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Johnstown-2 and Altoona-2 played a baseball game that had a little bit of everything Tuesday.

From superb starting pitching, some shaky defense, a controversial ruling and eventually clutch hitting, the two teams traded blows against one another, but it was Martella’s Pharmacy that survived a 6-3 decision over Cumming Motors in Pool A action during the early game at Sargent’s Stadium at the Point.

The Johnstown-2 squad found itself tied late in the game with the Altoona-2 representative and used some small ball to forge ahead. Two Martella’s Pharmacy runners reached base via a hit by pitch, then Jack Messina bunted the two into scoring position.

Johnstown-2 second basemen Mason Pfeil came up and roped a go-ahead single up the middle before center fielder Colby Rearick brought in two valuable insurance runs on a base hit of his own.

“I was definitely looking to be aggressive and I was trying to do damage,” said Rearick, the No. 10 batter in the order. “I got a bunch of guys backing me. That’s not just me getting a hit, that’s everyone on this team and we needed that more than air, so that was a big spot for me to come through.”

The dramatic go-ahead sequence was set up by a contentious one.

In the bottom half of the seventh inning, Altoona-2 batter Isaac Tiracorda led off with a base hit. Mason Mierly followed and hit a grounder to Johnstown-2 second basemen Pfeil, who opted to go for a tag rather than flip the ball to second to start a double play.

The ball ricocheted away on a collision by the two opposing players, which indicated both runners would be safe as it was called on the field. That would have set up Altoona-2 with two on and no outs in a tie game.

However, following a conference between both umpires, it was ruled the runner obstructed the defender, which actually nullified both runners and shifted the dynamic of the game dramatically.

“They told me that he has to avoid contact, but he was in the baseline,” Cumming Motors manager Chris Sanders said of the ruling. “From where we saw, it looked like the fielder was coming into him. From my angle, he was trying to get out of the way, but he didn’t see it that way. At the end of the day, we’ve got to hit better and put more guys on base and more runs across the board.”

Altoona-2 had trouble getting the offense going and finished with just five hits and struck out 13 times collectively. Cumming Motors pushed two runs across in the first innings, but both were fueled by errors from the Johnstown squad.

Those first-inning errors were part of five committed by Martella’s Pharmacy on the day. It was a sloppy performance, but one the team is willing to look past given the result of the contest.

“Obviously, we left here (Monday) bitter,” Martella’s Pharmacy manager Kerry Pfeil said after starting the tournament with a defeat. “We felt like we left 95% of our effort in the dugout (Monday) and we wanted to bring that out here (Tuesday).”

The Johnstown runner-up team overcame some sluggish play thanks to a strong pitching performance from Bryce Danish, who went six innings, allowed just two hits and fanned 11 batters.

“I really liked how he was working ahead here today,” Kerry Pfeil said of his starting pitcher. “From their sixth through 10 guys, he was really challenging them and had multiple strikeouts down there. He hit spots and he had to work out of jams and recover from his own errors.”

Cumming Motors received a strong pitching performance as well. Seventeen-year old Vince Boland, a rising senior for Hollidaysburg Area High School, looked extremely sharp and pitched into the seventh inning with five strikeouts and two runs allowed, neither of which were earned.

“He’s 17 years old and came out here and kept a college lineup at bay for seven innings,” Sanders said of his starter. “Hats off to him. The kid is something. He’s special and he’s got a lot of opportunity ahead of him.”

Johnstown-2 and Altoona-2 both have identical 1-1 records through two days of pool play and will have plenty to play for Wednesday. Martella’s Pharmacy will battle Brooklyn at Sargent’s Stadium at 2 p.m., while Cumming Motors will take on Butler at Windber.

Indexed and credited by AIPROPX. Originating outlet: Yahoo Sports. Open at source →