The Northampton baseball team has been a fixture in the postseason since before the EPC was reconstituted in its current form. There have been a couple of close calls over the years, but the K-Kids have played games after the regular season ended every year since Mick Sugra took the reins of the program in 2011.

That streak is in serious jeopardy this year. A combination of injuries, a pitching staff stretched thin by a compressed schedule due to rainouts, and playing the most difficult set of opponents in District XI have the Kids’ backs up against the wall.

Last Saturday’s game against Freedom was the first chance for the team to play in springlike conditions and for the first two innings the mood around Mike Lisetski Field was as pleasant as the weather.

The Northampton defense had turned a textbook double play in each inning and seemed ready to get into a pitchers’ duel with the Patriots.

Things fell apart in the top of the third. There were runners on first and second with two outs and no score. The next 7 Freedom batters all reached base safely. There were four hits, 2 walks and an error, leading to seven 2-out runs.

The Patriots added three more runs in the fourth and the game was called after the fifth innings with the Kids down 10-0.

Although time is running short with only 5 games left in the regular season, the team is still focused on qualifying for the postseason.

“We talked to them yesterday and we’ve just got to try to keep persevering and try to scrape together some wins. You know, we want to get to the playoff spot. If we get into a one or two game series, we know we’re capable of knocking some teams off,” said Sugra.

At 6-9, the Kids would have go 4-1 in their second go-around against their divisional opponents to get to 10 wins and automatic qualification. That is a daunting task given that all of the teams are over .500 for the season.

There is chance they could also get in by getting ahead of Emmaus in the power rankings to claim the guaranteed 8th spot in districts if both teams fail to qualify on record.