If turnabout is fair play, the Northampton softball team indulged in copious amounts of fair play on Friday as they crushed Nazareth 10-0 to advance to the District XI 6A semifinals.

The Blue Eagles had ended the K-Kids’ seasons the previous two years, including by a 10-0 score in the 2025 district playoffs.

Rylee Gable was spectacular in the circle, limiting Nazareth to two hits and two walks while striking out 10, including 5 of the final 6 batters of the game.

The Kids’ lineup was equally potent. Every batter reached base at least once. Eight of nine spots in the order contributed at least one base hit and at least one run or RBI.

The game was actually a tight pitchers’ dual for the first three innings. At that point, each team had managed just one hit and had struck out four times.

The K-Kids finally broke through in the fourth inning. Hannah Duerr lashed a single to left and went to second when the ball was bobbled. With two outs, Olivia Marth smacked an 0-2 pitch for single to drive in Duerr. Ro Echevarria followed with a double to the right field fence to plate courtesy runner Kirsten Wolfe to give Northampton a 2-0 lead.

The Kids blew the game open in the fifth inning. JoJo Siegfried drove in Leah Regan. Duerr collected the third of her four hits on the afternoon to knock in Siegfried. Avery Deibert followed with a blast over the fence in right for a two-run homer and the rout was on.

The senior described the moment, “A home run always feels better when you can contribute to your team, especially after I struck out my first at bat. I didn’t let that affect me. She gave me the pitch I wanted and yeah, doing it in a game that could be your last game, it just makes everything feel better.”

There were many heroines for Northampton, but only one record breaker.

In the top of the seventh inning, Siegfried swiped her third base of the game giving her 33 for her high school career. That broke the Kids’ all-time record of 32 that was set by current head coach Kristy Henritzy.

“She wanted me to beat it,” explained Siegfried, a junior. “For the last couple of years I’ve been on varsity we’ve really worked towards it. Getting on base a lot helps and so does having the people behind me.”

The game represented perhaps the most complete performance since the K-Kids beat Whitehall 10-0 for the 2022 district championship.

Henritzy credited the production at the plate, “Today we hit, that was the big thing. I told them, ‘If we hit today, we will win this game.’ We did the work. We focused hard on hitting the last couple of days. Plus, Rylee Gable kept them off balance with the changeup and riseball. That’s a really hard combo to hit and both of those were working.”

The win sets up a meeting in the district semifinals with Freedom. The Patriots have won all three previous meetings against the K-Kids this year, but all of those were with top pitcher Maddie Bixler in the circle. Bixler, who was at Bethlehem Catholic last year, is ineligible to pitch in districts and beyond due to PIAA transfer rules.