By: Fred Carmen, Jr.
Special to DigitalSports

There are certain games that can prove to be a make-the-season or break-the-season event. Often times, that isn't known until the season is over.

Laurel's 9-8 victory over the Northwestern Wildcats on Tuesday afternoon may very well prove to be a key event for the Laurel Spartans 2009 season.

The Spartans jumped out to an 8-0 lead behind a solid pitching performance from 'Ayche', only for Northwestern to chip away at the lead until it tied the game at 8.

Northwestern attempted to take the lead against Laurel relief pitcher Alex Hanavin, but Hanavin would only bend, not break.

Going into the bottom of the seventh inning tied at 8, David Carmen led off the inning with double to the left-center field gap, his second of the game.

Zach Kapanoske followed with a key single, moving Carmen to third with no outs, however, Carmen was thrown out at the plate on a go-on-contact play and a perfect throw from the Northwestern shortstop.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Wilmer Diaz came to the plate.

It appeared that Northwestern was about to dodge a bullet and would take the game into extra innings, but Diaz made sure that did not happen as he sent a shot down the left-field line to secure the 9-8 victory for Laurel.

Looking at the box score, it would be very easy to say that Laurel nearly gave away an easy victory.

The runs that Northwestern scored were the result of balls falling in the perfect spots.

The Spartans could have become demoralized, but the team motto, "Believe," proved to be accurate.

The team does seem to believe that it will find a way to win, and when a team believes, it just may happen.

Laurel 9, Northwestern 8