For Northampton head baseball coach Mick Sugra and his players, the message was simple this week; win two of their remaining three games to gain a District 11 Class 4A playoff berth.

While the message may be simple, the mission may be arduous.

The Konkrete Kids have struggled with consistent play on both side of the ball all season. They have endured their share of rashes of wildness on the mound, lack of timing hitting, and breakdowns on the field.

However, they will need to find some solid footing this week to avoid missing the postseason for the first time in four years, and also it could be the first in Sugra's reign. The Kids will have games with Pocono Mountain West, Parkland, and Nazareth this week.

"Can it be done,' yes," said Sugra, who has been at the helm for the past three seasons, "will it, well see. We need to play a complete game. Last week, we gave away games in which we had leads. It has been difficult and disappointing."

Sugra referred to a recent span of three consecutive losses to Easton, Liberty, and Whitehall respectively in which his team relinquished their lead after the fourth inning.

"We gave away the Easton game and Liberty and Whitehall both got theirs sticks going against us," he said. "It really has been frustrating to all of us. We just can't put it together when we need to.

"Lately, our pitching has been better, but we haven't been getting the big hits. Garrett (Kunkel) has been doing a great job for us on the mound all season, and Cody (Kramer) pitched a nice game lately, but we didn't give him enough support."

With his team being able to see a district berth in their sights, Sugra is optimistic his squad can keep its composure.

"We are pressing," he said. "If we make a mistake, we tend to get down on ourselves right away. Failure is part of this game and we have to be able to deal with it.

"We just have to be able to play through these things. Recently, we have had a lack of production and have had some mental lapses. Our pitching was struggling at fist, but it has bounced back."

Despite the negative outlook, Sugra is still confident the Kids will be playing baseball in the next few weeks.

"We had a team meeting about the situation," he said. "No one has packed their bags. We had a spaghetti dinner Monday night to help unify things. There is no doubt our backs are to the wall.

"This is a good team, and we'll see if we can get it done."