Kevin Mann, the first-year coach of Northampton's softball team, has nothing but praise about the Konkrete Kids' effort this season.

Northampton shutout Central Catholic 10-0 in five innings Tuesday and in doing so ran the Konkrete Kids' record to 10-2 overall and 6-2 in the Lehigh Valley Conference.

"We're the one team everyone else wants to knock off," said Mann, "but we're living up to my expectations."

The 10 wins clinch a District 11 playoff berth for the defending district champs, "but we can't sit back. We've got to make things happen," says the coach.

"It's truly been a team-effort all season," Mann adds. "We're still looking for more and I know we have more inside us."

Freshmen pitchers Gillian Muthard and Taylor Keeney have been carrying the brunt of the mound duties with senior Bri Dalton and junior Samantha Frey helping out.

In fact, in Tuesday's game, Keeney and Frey allowed only three hits, while Northampton's batters picked up 11.

Ali Reppert, Auria Enright, Emily Schwartz and Leandra Sterner each had two hits in the rout.

The Kids' five-game win streak started with a 12-1 romp over Allen in a nonleague game in the annual LVC "Play Day."

Northampton followed that by edging Freedom 4-3 in an LVC game with Muthard and Keeney teaming up on the mound. Dalton had three hits and two RBIs and Hannah Peters picked up an RBI.

The Northampton Kids took the road for a nonleague game at Stroudsburg and handed the Mountaineers a 10-2 setback with the Kids' pounding out 14 hits. Taylor Kerbacher, Kendel Reed, and Kasey Frey did the most damage at the plate.

Monday, the Kids shut out Northern Lehigh 4-0 in another nonleague game as Muthard pitched a one-hitter. Dalton led the Kids with two hits and an RBI.

Northampton returns to action today at home against Allen in an LVC game.

Then begins a tough closing schedule with a home game Monday against Easton followed by a game Wednesday at Liberty and a nonleague game Thursday at Pleasant Valley.

Friday, May 2 the Kids are at home with Whitehall then visited Gov. Mifflin on Saturday May 3 in a makeup game.

The season closes with home games against Parkland and Nazareth on May 6 and May 8, respectively.