All season long, Northampton's baseball team has prided itself on its consistent pitching, timely hitting, and stellar defensive efforts.

It has been the effective trifecta that has lifted the Konkrete Kids from a pair of mediocre seasons into one this year that has transformed them into one of the Lehigh Valley's elite.

The Kids not only clinched a district berth early in the season due to an eight-game winning streak, but they also qualified for the East Penn Conference (EPC) playoffs.

However, the Kids' visit back to the vaunted EPC ground wasn't a memorable one.

Stroudsburg defeated Northampton, 6-0, in the opening round of the EPC playoffs Monday afternoon. In the game, the Kids committed four errors and left nine men on base. It was a game that wasn't reflective of the building blocks that cemented a foundation all season.

In fact, the Kids didn't score with the bases loaded twice.

"We didn't get the big hits when we needed them," said head coach Mick Sugra. "We had the bases loaded with one out and hit into a double play, and then we had them loaded again and flied out with two out.

"Pitching, defense and getting big hits helped us all season. It's tough to battle back against good teams and one you face at this point of the season."

Kids' starter Noah Durnin was the victim of three unearned runs, but he did record six strikeouts before he gave way to Justin Bragg late in the game. Ian Csencsits had two of the Kids' five hits.

From here, the Kids (13-8, 11-6) will either be the fifth or sixth seed in the district playoffs that will begin Monday. If they are the fifth seed, they will host Bangor; the sixth seed will have them host Pleasant Valley.

In addition, catcher Ian Luberti and infielder Ian Csencsits were both named to the First Team East Penn Conference All Stars. Luberti hit .407 and Csencsits hit .422 during the regular season.

Also under consideration were Durnin, who had a 5-2 record with a 1.15 ERA, and fellow pitcher Nick DiMieri, who had a 1-1 slate with a 1.46 ERA. Infielders John Miller (.360), and Will Stackhouse (.345) along with outfielder Collin Shambo (.327) were also under consideration.

Sugra sees his team being able to rebound for the postseason.

"We're basically a young team," he said. "We have done a number of good things this year and we can't allow those types of things to happen again if we are to play deep into the playoffs."