Although the Northampton baseball team won the EPC title in 2019, they had not won a district playoff game since 2015. That all changed last Tuesday as the K-Kids took down Emmaus in the 6A quarterfinals 9-0 at Mike Lisetski Field.

As great as the team accomplishment was, all eyes were on Northampton senior pitcher Evan Hughes as he took a no-hitter into the seventh and final inning.

Hughes was even perfect through 4 2/3 innings before walking the 15th batter he faced after a 7-pitch at bat. The Northampton righty got to the final inning having surrendered only that one baserunner and having thrown 96 pitches.

PIAA rules limits the pitch count to 105 for the game, but allows for completing the at bat where the 105th pitch is thrown. After retiring the first batter of the inning on a routine grounder to second, Hughes was at 100 pitches. Hughes discussed his approach, “I basically went out there and threw fastballs, tried to blow it by him. That kid that got a hit knew it was coming but hats off to him for hitting it.”

The ball was a liner to left that barely touched the glove on shortstop Sam Erschen’s fully extended arm - an impossible catch, but tantalizingly close.

Hughes was able to complete the one-hitter in 108 pitches.

The Northampton offense did its part too. They put up four runs in the third inning thanks to playing small ball. Three infield hits, 2 walks, and four stolen bases sparked the attack. Head coach Mick Sugra noted, “Small ball is huge. We spend so much time on that. It feels so good to see that stuff come to fruition. Bunts, sacs, safety squeezes, for it to work today, that’s awesome.”

The Kids left the long ball part of the offense in the capable hands of leadoff hitter Logan Higgins. The junior stroked an RBI triple in the fourth inning and added the exclamation point to the game by smacking a 3-run homer in the fifth, his first dinger of the year.

Higgins described the moment, “The pitching change happened the at bat before me. Coach Sugra said, ‘Just be up there, get your timing down, and if you see a pitch just swing at it.’ I’ve been trying to put balls out all year, it hasn’t been working. I’ve been hitting gap-to-gap. I saw that pitch and turned on it. Honestly, I didn’t think it was going anywhere but it got out.”