The 2025-26 Northampton Area High School sports season came to an end Monday evening on Wolf Field as the K-Kids’ district title-winning softball team dropped its opening state playoff game to District 1’s Plymouth Whitemarsh 3-1.

Each team scored a run in the first inning. The Colonials got a 1-out double and a 1-out single that allowed Lori Flannery to score on a fielder’s choice ground out.

The K-Kids’ run, which proved to be their only score, came courtesy of Hannah Duerr’s 25th home run in a Northampton uniform, extending her all-time Kids’ record. Duerr battled through a 10-pitch at bat, spoiling numerous 3-2 offerings before getting a pitch she liked and driving it over the centerfield fence.

The game turned in the fourth and fifth innings.

In the bottom half of the frame, Duerr and Avery Deibert singled, giving the Kids a pair of runners with no outs. However, they were stranded at first and second.

In the top of the fifth, PW loaded the bases with one out on a single, a walk, and an error. A sacrifice fly and 2-out single gave them the winning margin.

Leah Regan gave the large home crowd some late hope by bringing the tying run to the plate with a 1-out single, but it was not to be. The K-Kids are still looking for their first state playoff win since the 1996 team delivered a state title to Northampton.

It was apropos that for the final game of the season, all six Kids’ hits were delivered by seniors. Duerr and Deibert each had a pair, while Ro Echevarria added her name to the list along with Regan.

Duerr, who is also Northampton’s all-time RBI leader, offered her thoughts on her record-setting career, “Honestly, it feels amazing. Like, I know that my name in going to be etched in the record books. But I’m so grateful, I wouldn’t have the RBIs and all this stuff without my teammates getting on base. They’re the reason I’m in the book.”

Head coach Kristy Henritzy put the emotions of the final game into perspective, “I love this team. I’m proud of them. It’s hard in these moments because I wish this season would go on because I know how much they love playing with each other.”

She continued, “For me, it was trying to make them understand that maybe today was not the outcome we wanted, but they are etched in history forever. They won a district championship. They’re not going to remember the wins and losses. They won’t even remember this game. It will be about their trips to Wawa and the fun songs they sang on the bus and laughing through some of that stuff.”