After a year’s absence, Northampton is back in the District Class 6A playoff this week.

The Konkrete Kids (13-8), who finished with an overall 8-12 record last year, opened this year’s playoff as the fifth-seeded against fourth-seeded Parkland (15-7).

His team finished the regular season with a 3-1 loss to Fleetwood and a 8-2 defeat to Whitehall in the East Penn Conference quarterfinal round game.

The lone meeting with Parkland was May 8 when the Trojans posted a 17-7 victory. Northampton had a 7-3 lead until Parkland plated seven runs apiece in both the fourth and fifth innings to close out the games.

Northampton skipper Mick Sugra was confident heading into the postseason with his team’s scrimmages against Pocono Mountain East and Notre Dame.

“We had good scrimmages against Pocono Mountain East and Notre Dame and several good practices over the weekend, so I would say we were feeling pretty good,” quipped Sugra.

“We led Parkland 7-3 the first time we played them before we had two bad innings. They’re obviously a very good team, defending league and district champs.”

Brady Simock has had a strong season at the plate and on the mound. He is .469 with 31 RBIs, and a 5-3 record with 48 strikeouts and 30 walks in 37.2 innings.

Casey Williams in hitting .429 with 16 RBIs, and Aidan Sugra is at .344 with 22 RBIs.

Jake Raysely is 3-2 with a 6.13 ERA and 22 strikeouts and 19 walks, and Ben Swain is 1-1 with a 4.54 ERA and 21 strikeouts and 16 walks.

Before last season, the Kids beat Emmaus, 5-0, in the quarterfinal round in 2024 before they were eliminated by Liberty, 8-6, in the semifinals. In 2023, it was another repeat, as the Kids routed Emmaus, 9-0, before losing to Liberty, 13-3. A year earlier, they were bumped out by Nazareth, 5-4, in the quarterfinal round, and they had an early exit in 2021 courtesy of Liberty, 12-4.

The Kids last won a district title in 1997.

Sugra entered this postseason with an optimistic outlook.

“Anybody is beatable,’ offered Sugra. “We look forward to the opportunity to play them (Parkland). We had our spaghetti dinner that I host every time we qualify for districts, and it was a late night of food and fun for the guys.”