When you’re seemingly evenly matched in a playoff game, it will come down to who makes the most mistakes.

Northampton found itself in that type of situation this week.

The Konkrete Kids begin district play in the Class 6A playoffs Wednesday afternoon at Emmaus, which comes after Press deadline.

They entered the game with an overall 13-8 record as the fourth seed, and Emmaus entered as the third seed with an overall 14-8 record, their East Penn Conference (EPC) playoff run recently ended in a semifinal loss to Parkland.

Kids’ head Mick Sugra saw the game as a tossup. The team split the regular season battle with Northampton taking a 13-4 contest while dropping a 10-3 one.

“We are two similar teams,” stated Sugra. We split with each other during the regular season. It should be a good game.

“I’d obviously like to win. But the thing with baseball year in and year out is you have to knock out somebody’s ace. It could be worse, and our season could have been done a few weeks ago like a lot of other schools. I’m just glad we are getting there, and giving ourselves an opportunity.”

After they were eliminated from the opening round of the EPC tournament by Nazareth by a 6-1 score, the Kids kept themselves busy with a scrimmage against Bethlehem Catholic. They defeated the Golden Hawks by a 12-3 score.

“Our pitcher threw well, and we played good defense,” added Sugra. “Our defense has been trouble for us sometimes this season.”

Northampton began the regular season with a 3-0 record and also put together a five-game winning streak to eventually raise their record to 9-2. The Kids suffered a pair of two-game losing streaks, and finished the season winning three of their final four contests.

Emmaus began its season with a 4-0 mark, but it then went into a tailspin when they lost four of their next five. They posted a seven-game losing streak in the final stretch of the season, but they dropped their final two games.

The Kids will be gunning for their first district title since 1997, and they have been eliminated in their past five appearances. They were the third seed in 2016 and received a first-round bye. Ironically, they were eliminated by Emmaus, 8-5, in the next round. In 2015, the Kids beat Bangor (5-0) and Liberty (3-1) before they lost to Parkland (6-2) in the semifinals.

Emmaus won the district title in 2021.

Sugra believes his team can pull out a victory if they stick to the basics.

“It’s going to come down to who wants it more and which pitcher throws the better game,” said Sugra. “It also comes down to who plays the cleanest defense, and who gets the key hits.”