Northampton softball coach Kevin Mann reminded his Konkrete Kids it was win or go home time before the District XI Class AAAA Softball Tournament, so the K-Kids won in the first round against Pottsville, 6-0, on Tuesday afternoon at Northampton.

“We knew we couldn’t take them lightly,” said Northampton pitcher, Jillian Muthard. “I just pitched my game and knew our bats would come around.”

Although the bats did come around for the K-Kids, it was in the fifth inning, and for Mann, the wait was a little too long.

“We were getting runners on base, but we were running out of time,” he said.

In the fifth, Emily Schwartz led off with a walk, and singles by Hallie Muffley and Brandi Davidson loaded the bases.

“I was pretty excited, very elated,” said Davidson. “She was a good pitcher. She threw a wicked change-up, but we hit her pretty well today.’

Heather Alich hit a double, which landed between the infield and outfield behind first base, to knock in Northampton’s first two runs.

“That was a rare occasion, but for me, it was a nice hit,” Alich said.

In the sixth inning, Muthard had a base hit, Gabby Demchak had a single, and Schwartz was safe at first on a fielder’s choice. Davidson walked, and the bases were loaded for Alich again, who knocked in two more runs.

“Yes, the girls felt confident going into today,” said Coach Mann. “They even talked about that.”

Davidson said districts was like a new beginning, and Alich referred to a clean slate where everyone was at the same place.

On Thursday, the K-Kids will take on Whitehall.

“We’ll go through the same routine [at practice], pitching, batting, we’ll ask them what they want to work on,” Mann said. “We can knock a couple good teams off that we played well against.”