'KEENE, N.H. 5/4/03 – One of five pitchers on a Keene State softball roster that included two seniors, sophomore Meghan McLoughlin waited patiently all season for the opportunity to display her pitching prowess.
 When that opportunity came, the Brattleboro, Vt., native was up to the challenge. Posting three tournament victories, including an opening round no-hitter against Southern Maine, McLoughlin culminated her late-season heroics on Sunday by tossing a sparkling two hitter to lead Keene State to a 2-0 shutout victory over two-time defending champ Western Connecticut (24-9) in the Little East Conference Softball Tournament finals held in Danbury, Conn.
"The more I pitched the more confident I became," said McLoughlin, who was selected as the Tournament's most outstanding player. "I was more relaxed today than in my previous starts."
 McLoughlin, who out-dueled Plymouth State ace Kim Jeffs on Saturday with a sparkling 1-0 one-hitter that included a program-tying 13 strikeouts, used a different method on Sunday to dispose of Colonial hitters.
 "I didn't have many strikeouts, but my placement was very good," she said. "They hit balls to my teammates behind me and they took care of the rest."
Coming out on top of another pitching duel, this time against WCSU ace Sarah Zaslaw, McLoughlin struck out five and didn't allow a walk to improve her record to 6-3 this season. She gave up two hits, singles by Cherie Bailey and Cathy Knapp in the third inning.
Runs were scarce for both teams. Keene State scored one run in the fourth inning on a RBI single by Adria Reynolds (Portsmouth, N.H.) scoring pinch runner Jennifer Smith (Salem, N.H.). Smith was running for Shaun Mullen (Hooksett, N.H.), who led off the inning with a single in the hole at shortstop.
Caroline Kurkowski (Niskayuna, N.Y.) gave KSC a much-needed cushion run in the sixth inning when she belted her eighth home run of the season, a blast over the centerfield wall.
One-time KSC nemesis, Zaslaw allowed seven hits while striking out seven and walking one. She drops to 16-6 on the season.
 "I couldn't be more ecstatic about this team," said KSC Coach Charlie Beach. "This was a very emotional victory for us."
Entering the tournament as the fifth seed, the Owls overcame an opening day 5-4 loss to Western Conn. and fought back from the losers bracket by knocking off second seed Rhode Island (3-1), third seed Plymouth State (1-0) and top seed Western Conn. (4-3) on Saturday. The dramatic eight inning win over WCSU set up Sunday's winner-take-all contest.
 "Any team in this tournament could have done this," said Beach about his team's improbable come back. "It just shows you the caliber of teams in this league. We knew we could come back. It was just a matter of confidence."
 "Everyone on this team did their part," added McLoughlin. This was a team accomplishment."
It was the third LEC tournament title for the Owls, who won back-to-back championships in 1999 and 2000. KSC also defeated the Colonials (6-2) in the 1999 championship.
KSC (25-12) will now await word form the NCAA about their tournament destination. Because the team is unranked, Beach feels the Owls could be sent out of region.
