JOHNSTOWN — Only two games separated the first and third spots in the AAABA League standings through Wednesday’s action.

All four teams will make the playoffs, so there is no drama hinging on the final week of the regular season.

But the last five games certainly will be interesting in terms of playoff seedings. The postseason is set to begin on July 20.

Berkley Hills Renegades (21-10) had a half-game advantage over second-place Delweld (20-10) going into Wednesday’s late game. Third-place Martella’s Pharmacy (19-12) wasn’t far back either. Laurel Auto Group (14-16) rounded out the field.

Martella’s beat the Renegades 6-2 in the early game at the Point on Wednesday, while Delweld and Laurel Auto group had the nightcap.

“This league is everything I expected it to be,” said first-year Renegades manager Larry McCabe, whose team had a grip on first place most of the season. “It’s very competitive.

“I feel there is a lot of camaraderie. I respect what goes on with all the teams. Everybody seems to get along well. It’s very competitive. That’s what you want when you play baseball. You want to get out there and the best team wins.”

Including Wednesday, Berkley Hills had three games with Martella’s, two against Delweld and one against Laurel Auto during the final six dates.

Delweld shut out the Renegades 4-0 in Tuesday’s key late game at the Point. The defending regular-season champs beat Berkley Hills two straight games after dropping the first game of a three-game set.

Manager Chris DelSignore’s team has won 16 of the past 19 games (including two forfeit victories over Altoona Ketrow Insurance). A relatively young Delweld squad had started the season at 4-7.

“Everything is tight,” DelSignore said. “Everybody is in a position where if they got hot at the right time, they could end up as the regular season champion. Everyone is still in it. When you have four teams and managers who are committed to bringing in good players, you’re going to have four competitive teams.”

Martella’s has a five-game winning streak after Wednesday’s game against the Renegades. The defending playoff champions rebounded after dropping five of seven games – and eight of 11 – prior to the win streak.

“We’re through the grind,” Martella’s manager Chris Pfeil said. “All four teams in this league are pretty tight. We’re trying to get as much momentum as we can going into the playoffs.”

Laurel Auto Group fell on hard times after being swept by Martella’s in three games. That series stopped the momentum of Laurel’s four-game winning streak entering the holiday break.

Laurel trailed third-place Martella’s by four games with six to play prior to Wednesday.

“We plan on finishing strong,” Laurel manager Len Beiter said. “We have to get some momentum. We had won four in a row, which was great going into the break. Now we came out and lost three straight (through Tuesday), two heartbreakers and one that was really crushing (8-1 loss to Martella’s on Tuesday). We’ve really got to come out and get some kind of momentum going into the playoffs.”



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Decision time: The league standings are tight, but that might not translate into a “back-against-the-wall” approach to the final few games next week.

DelSignore said managers might have to choose between playoff seeding and setting their pitching rotation for the postseason.

“There’s probably going to be some movement in the standings but to what degree?” DelSignore asked. “Next week with three games, I don’t know how much movement there is going to be because you have to think about your pitching staff for the playoffs that begin (July 20).

“That’s the downside to having it tight. You have to figure out if you want to go after a position in the standings or set yourself up for the playoffs. I think every one of us values the playoffs more than the regular season.”



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Renegade rampage: Berkley Hills had players at the top of all the offensive statistical categories this week.

Ryan Uhl (26 for 59, .440) and Nate Campbell (33 for 76, .434) held the top two batting averages.

Campbell led the league with 44 runs entering the week. Johnny Jones had a league-high five home runs and 35 RBIs.



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Aces: Laurel Auto Group’s Ryan Bills and Martella’s Derek Younker began the week with each holding a league-best five wins.

Younker beat Laurel on Tuesday night to improve to 6-0 this season with a 1.08 ERA.

The Renegades’ Jones had a league-high three saves, and teammate Uhl had two saves.

Younker’s 38 strikeouts led the league entering the week, and he fanned eight more batters against no walks on Tuesday. In that game, Younker retired the final 17 Laurel hitters he faced in an 8-1 win.

Delweld’s Marcus Shippey began the week with 33 strikeouts, and Martella’s Nick Cubarney and Mike Mulvey had 32 and 30, respectively.



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What’s in a title?: Three teams are battling for the regular-season title.

But winning the league crown doesn’t automatically translate into a playoff title.

“The way it’s been the last five years, I’m not sure if being the regular-season champion necessarily is a good thing,” DelSignore said, laughing.

The regular-season champion lost in the playoffs during four of the past five years. Delweld is the most recent team to take both the regular season and playoff titles in 2009.

Last year, Delweld won the regular season, but Martella’s was the playoff champion and the city’s official representative in the AAABA Tournament.

In 2010 and 2008, Martella’s claimed the regular season championship but Delweld won the playoff title each of those seasons.

In 2007, the Johnstown Grays were regular-season champs, but Delweld took postseason honors.



Mike Mastovich is a sports writer for The Tribune-Democrat.