Last Friday, the Northampton baseball team was still recovering from its roller coaster ride of a game against Nazareth that saw the K-Kids come back from an 8-2 deficit to take an 11-8 lead into the seventh inning only to lose 16-11. A visit from Allen provided a much-needed respite. Although the Canaries hung tough for 4 innings, the Kids prevailed 8-0 and officially clinched a district playoff berth with their tenth win of the season.

Head coach Mick Sugra discussed the state of the team heading into the game, “Zero energy today. We’ll blame it on the heat, but zero energy. We did enough to get the win. We didn’t have a day off over Easter except Easter, so the plan is to give them the weekend off to just get away. It’s been a grind.”

The Kids scored in the first inning without a base hit. Logan Higgins led off with a walk, stole 2nd and 3rd, and scored when the catcher’s throw to third was wide of the mark and went into the outfield.

They picked up another run in the third when Matt Merced drove in Dylan Fosko from second with a single to left.

Merced also flashed some leather at the hot corner. He had a nice short hop catch and throw to get Allen’s leadoff batter in the third and then made a diving snag on a screaming liner off a Canary bat for the second out of the inning. He also plucked a hot smash out of the air in the sixth.

“I just try to stay on time with the pitcher. I try to play a little more back, so I can see the ball come to my glove. Sometimes, it’s just a split reaction. You don’t really think about it. Sometimes it’s easier just to react. When you have too much time to think about it, you make bad throws and bobble the ball,” Merced noted.

The K-Kids put the game away in the fifth inning. A 2-run single by Fosko drove in Higgins and Mason Haupt and chased the Allen starter. From there, over the next eight batters, there were zero balls put in play. 4 walks, 2 hit batters, and two strikeouts generated 4 more runs. Northampton had a couple of opportunities to walk off the game under the Mercy Rule but could not convert.

Sam Erschen pitched the first 4 2/3 innings with 3 hits, 4 walks, and 5 strikeouts. Owen Laury and Erick Castro combined for 2 1/3 perfect innings in relief.

The Kids head into the final stretch of the season as owners of a 10-6 overall record, 8-5 in the EPC. Northampton has clinched a district berth in each of Sugra’s 13 seasons at the helm except for the 2020 season that was abandoned due to COVID.

They have not yet locked up a spot in the EPC tournament. Their four remaining games are: Whitehall (9-6, 9-3) tonight at 6 p.m. at Coca-Cola Park, a nonleague game Friday at Limeport Stadium against 12-1 Southern Lehigh, Parkland (13-2, 10-2) at home Monday, and finishing with Whitehall Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Bryfogle Park. Last year, the K-Kids claimed the 7th seed with 10 wins in the EPC.