Kristy Henritzy and her Konkrete Kids shouldn’t have been doubted.

Sure, the Kids’ season ended Monday with a 3-1 loss to Plymouth Whitemarsh in an opening-round state Class 6A playoff game, but this was a matter of getting there.

The highlight of the path was a district championship that their peers didn’t foresee.

There were few that expected the Kids to make a deep run this year, but they answered their critics. They were predicted to be a middle-of-the pack team in the East Penn Conference (EPC) and to have a season that would have ended in early May.

They were coming off a 14-9 season that ended in a stinging, 10-0, loss to Nazareth in the EPC semifinals. Six seniors, led by all-star catcher Hannah Duerr, would form the nucleus.

Still, Henritzy believed.

She thought this could be a magical season.

Yet, the Kids would enter as a pure underdog for the EPC and district title with Nazareth, Freedom, Emmaus, and Stroudsburg being viewed as the top dogs.

Ironically, it was the 30th anniversary of Henritzy being a major part as a player on the Kids’ 1996 state championship team. Her daughter, Kiley, would be their starting shortstop.

In many ways, Henritzy saw the team as a mirror image of her playing days. She sees them as truly unique.

“I see this team as a scrappy, gritty team that wants to win,” she emphasized. “They are the best of friends on and off the field.

“This team is not like any other team I have coached. This team is most similar to the team in 1996, when we won states.”

The Kids quietly established themselves early, winning nine of their first 10 games, scoring 76 runs in the process.

That proved to be the catalyst for a season of big hits, big wins, and big moments.

The Kids shocked Nazareth 10-0, in the opening round of districts and followed with an impressive, 15-3 rout of Freedom, which was coming off an EPC title. Their pinnacle would be a 2-1, grind-it-out win over Emmaus for the district championship, their first since 2022.

It didn’t end the way they wanted, but the Kids have another district championship trophy that was produced as a result of an impressive, 18-8 overall record, four more wins than last season.

Henritzy wasn’t totally content, but she can walk away from this year with a good feeling about it. Her daughter and fellow juniors infielder JoJo Siegfried and pitcher Rylee Gable will form the 2027 returning core.

“We were able to focus on us and keep the momentum in our favor,” reflected Henritzy. “We set some really strong goals at the beginning of the year and a district championship was one of them.

“This season was very special.”