It’s district playoff time for Northampton, and the Konkrete Kids appear to be ready.

Head coach Mick Sugra has his team back in the Big Dance for the 14th consecutive season, and the fifth-seeded Kids opened up at fourth-seeded Emmaus Wednesday in the opening round of the Class 6A playoffs.

The game, however, comes after Press deadlines.

This season, Northampton (14-6) dropped both of the regular-season games against Emmaus (13-7), losing 11-3 on March 19 and 4-3 on April 22. Last season, the Kids split with the Green Hornets during the regular season, and then beat them in the opening round of districts. Emmaus has a 4-3 record against Northampton the last three years.

District titles haven’t come easy for both clubs. Emmaus won a title in 2020, and Northampton has been winless since 1997.

Sugra is confident his club can take the next step. He and his club has become quite familiar with the postseason script.

“Their ace (Cole) Moreau has had our number, although in the second game, we got eight hits off him,” stated Sugra. “We just couldn’t get the big one.”

The Green Hornets entered the contest splitting their last four games, dropping an 11-1 decision to Bethlehem Catholic in their season finale. Prior to that, they had a five-game winning streak.

Before their district game, Moreau had a 5-2 record with a 1.54 ERA and 58 strikeouts and 23 walks. Shane Ohl had a 3-1 mark with a 3.86 ERA, and Josiah Williams was 3-1 with a 2.92 ERA.

Chad Kauffman had a .500 average with 11 RBIs, Noah Hogan was at .333 with 23 RBIs, and Williams was at .312 with 23 RBIs.

Mason Haupt led the Kids with a .451 average and had a team-high 22 RBIs and 32 hits. Brady Simock was at .400, Gavin Pychinka was hitting at a .368 clip with 19 RBIs and 21 hits, Erick Castro was at .325, and Billy Stuhldreher was at .320. Austin Sommers had 18 RBI with a .295 average.

On the mound, Higgins was 3-0 with a 0.84 ERA with 26 strikeouts, Andrew Berger had a 3-1 mark with 2.80 ERA and 22 strikeouts, Haupt was 3-0 with a 2.68 ERA, and Simock was 2-2 with 2.50 ERA and 26 strikeouts.

In the district bracket, Sugra never expects too many surprises.

“Emmaus, Liberty, and Parkland are those guys every year that are expected to be top dogs,” added Sugra. “We feel we can beat anybody.

“We feel like we can compete with anyone. We’ll do our best to put together a complete game and move on one game at a time.”