With an overall 10-10 record, Northampton head baseball coach Mick Sugra easily can look back at his season at being either half-empty or half-full.

It can also be equivalent to a sophomore year in high school, one that was prominent for the K-Kids this season.

NHS began the season with an overall 2-5 mark before the team had a run, winning seven of their next eight contests. From there, the K-Kids spun their wheels down the stretch, dropping four of their last five games.

Yet, it was a season in which most expected the Kids to struggle to make the postseason as they had a squad comprised mostly of younger players who were expected to endure some growing pains.

Still, the Kids managed to gain an invitation to the District 11 Class 4A tournament last week. They opened as the 10th-seed and needed a trip north to seventh-seeded Stroudsburg that ended in a loss.

Overall, though, Sugra knows his team is headed in the right direction despite some obstacles ahead, mainly trying to get past some divisional rivals.

"This season, we had to try and get over the hump against both Parkland and Whitehall,'' noted Sugra. "If we beat them (they lost a pair of games to each team), we really establish ourselves and put ourselves in a good position. In the past, it was always trying to get past Nazareth.

"But we had four sophomores starting and we didn't know what to expect. It is good for us to get back to districts."

Sugra referred to sophomore Josh Miller, Shane Aster, Ian Luberti, and Will Stackhouse, all of whom quickly became fixtures.

Before the halfway point of the season, Miller became the team's leadoff hitter, Aster took over the reins in center, Luberti was behind the plate, and Stackhouse started at third.

"They all did a great job for us and all hit around .300," stated Sugra. "They became pretty comfortable and now we have them for two more years."

On the mound, Sugra was pleased with the development of sophomores Nick DeMieri, Justin Bragg, and Ryan Wehrli along with junior Noah Durnin. They proved to be a perfect complement to senior Joey Wittreich.

"We were looking for people to step up behind (Wittreich)," said Sugra. "They all developed their game over the season. We gained some needed depth during the season."

Despite their record, Sugra was a bit frustrated over some presumed wasted opportunities.

"We started off with a good win over Pocono Mt. East, but they we were in games against Whitehall and Parkland, but couldn't pull them out," said Sugra. "We also had a 3-0 lead against Emmaus (a 9-4 loss) get away from us. We were in all of the games except for Allen and Becahi.

"We just had to do the little things at times, and we didn't get them done enough. But we did have a nice run and grew up during the season."