Heading into the district playoffs, Northampton manager Mick Sugra has some mixed feelings about his club.

The Konkrete Kids ended the regular season with an overall 13-7 record, dropping four of their last five games, ending with a 17-7 loss to Parkland and a 3-1 defeat to Fleetwood.

Sugra noted how the team has struggled over the past few games.

“This time of the year, you gotta beat somebody’s ace,” stated Sugra. “We got Fleetwood’s top two guys, who combined for more than half of their team’s innings pitched, and we had one hit.

“The old saying of good pitching beats good hitting still holds true. Over the last three games or so against elite pitching, we are hitting under .200 as a team and can’t string hits together. To say the bats have gone cold is an understatement. Add that to our nearly five team ERA, and you sprinkle in a few unearned runs, you’re not going to win those close, playoff-like baseball games.

“It’s just not gonna happen.”

Yet, the Kids set a new school season record for stolen bases with 74, breaking the old mark of 68 in 2024. They are also on pace to break the season record in runs of 208, as they have 203 at this point.

The Kids also had senior Casey Williams named as an East Penn Conference first-team choice and fellow seniors Brady Simock and Aidan Sugra being named as second team choices.

Sugra also cited the relief pitching of senior Gavin Taff, who rejoined the team after not playing the last two years. Taff has a 1.75 ERA with 13 strikeouts in 12 innings.

“Gavin Taff has been a nice addition,” said Sugra. “I wish he would’ve stuck with baseball after his freshman year because who knows what he could have been. He’s been used primarily as a reliever this year since he hasn’t thrown for years. But he throws strikes, and he doesn’t put many on base.”

Taff didn’t have any trouble adjusting, as he has been throwing roughly 40 pitches in his stints.

“The baseball season has been awesome,” beamed Taff, who will play football at Lycoming College in the fall. “My boys on the team accepted me as a brother right from the start after not playing for a couple of years.

“It’s honestly been an experience that I will never forget. We as a team are in a bit of a slump right now, and we need to find our groove back before we play our first district game on the 20th.”

Still, Sugra has an optimistic outlook. The Kids will have a scrimmage before their district-opening game against either Parkland or Nazareth.

Getting the offense going is a priority.

“We gotta dig deep and just try and put our swing on our pitch,” stressed Sugra. “We’re not going to score five runs on one hit. We need to keep it simple and play a little looser than what we’ve been.

“Hitting is also contagious, so we just need one or two hits to get us going again. We certainly proved we can do it with the amount of runs we have scored this year.”