To be successful at the plate, Northampton head coach Kevin Mann felt his team simply needed to have faith in its ability.

Monday, the Konkrete Kids showed what they could do when they put the bat on the ball.Behind one of its most impressive offensive performances of the season, Northampton cruised to a 13-4 victory over Pleasant Valley in the quarterfinals of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference playoffs."We've been telling them all year long that we're a very good hitting team, but eventually it gets to the point where they have to believe in themselves," Mann said. "When they're able to do that and they start stringing hits together, that's when they start believing in themselves and realizing that they can do this."If the K-Kids (14-7, 12-5) were looking for boost of confidence, they got it in what proved to be a game-changing second inning.Northampton, which entered as the No. 6 seed, batted around to take a commanding 6-0 lead that seemed to deflate the third-seeded Lady Bears and give the visitors all the momentum they needed."That was a major hurdle to get over," Mann said of getting the quick start. "And once we got past that, they were able to breathe a little bit easier. Jill (Muthard, starting pitcher) was able to be a little more relaxed and take her time, and we were more focused in the field. It makes the whole game easier."Muthard also had her way at the plate, going 4-for-4 with a double, three runs batted in and three runs scored. The sophomore started the second with single before coming up again and recording her second hit of the inning with a two-run single that scored Hallie Muffley and Emily Schwartz.After the K-Kids built a 10-0 lead with three runs in the fourth and one in the top of the fifth, Pleasant Valley (14-7, 13-4) mounted a comeback in the bottom half of the inning.With Muthard out after pitching four innings of four-hit ball, the Lady Bears were able to take advantage of an inability to find the strike zone by Northampton's relievers, scoring four runs without recording a hit.Katie Lenart and Madison Shaneberger each scored on a wild pitch, while Alyssa Kotzmann's sacrifice fly brought in Alexis Richey. Brittney Bonser's bases loaded walk, the fifth of the inning by the K-Kids relievers, allowed Brittany Werner to score from third to make it 10-4.Seeing his team respond despite such a large deficit was something PV head coach Steve Caffrey was proud of."Whenever you play a good team like this and they get a bunch of runs in one inning, it's tough coming back from that," he said. "Our girls could have given up very easily and hung their heads but we got a couple runs to extend it. They could have hung it up, but they didn't and that shows what kind of team they are."Northampton answered in the top of the sixth, scoring three runs on six hits, one by Kendall Reed, who finished with three hits and a run scored, to regain control and set the final tally.Despite the setback, Pleasant Valley will still have the District 11 tournament to look forward to, where the Lady Bears advanced to the championship game a year ago.Though a number of starters from that team are gone, Caffrey is hoping the experience of several upperclassmen will allow this year's squad to once again make a deep postseason run."This is just one part of it, and now we have districts to go to," said Caffrey. "Hopefully we can turn things around and have a good showing there."Kotzmann finished 2-for-3, while Lenart and Kiersten Griesback each went 1-for-2 with a walk and run scored for the Lady Bears.Northampton 060 313 0 - 13 14 0Pleasant Vy. 000 040 0 - 4 6 2Muthard, Stuhldreher (5), Frey (5) and Reed; Griesback and Hill. W - Muthard. L - Griesback.