FORT MEYERS, FLA.  3/15/04  - The Keene State College softball team posted a pair of wins in its second day of Spring Week play at Fort Myers, Florida on Monday.

The Owls (3-1), came-from-behind to edge Framingham State 6-5 in an eight inning first game and then rode the superb pitching of junior Meghan McLoughlin (Brattleboro, Vt.) for a 2-1 victory over Western New England College in their second game.

A first-inning two-run home run by Caroline Kurkowski (Nuskayuna, N.Y.), her second of the spring, gave KSC a short-lived 2-0 lead.

After the Rams pulled ahead 5-2 after five innings, KSC staged its comeback.  The Owls scored three runs in the sixth to tie the game.  They got one run back when Kathleen Gambino (Freeport, N.Y.) tripled and scored on an overthrow.  Following a disputed homerun off the bat of Abby Collis (Wynantskill, N.Y.) that appeared fair, but was called foul, the junior hit the next pitch over the rightfielders head for a two-run home run that tied the game. 

KSC won the game in the eighth.  In the tie-breaker, Amanda Foote (Hudson, N.H.) began the inning at second.  She moved to third on a single by Jenn Norman (Penacook, N.H.) and came home on an infield hit to second by Kurkowski.

Kurkowski finished the game with three hits while Norman went two-for-four.

Erin Fouroli (Warwick, R.I.)picked up the win in relief.  The freshman tossed three innings of hitless ball with three strikeouts to notche her second win of the season.  Jenn Smith (Salem, N.H.) started for the Owls.  She gave up four earned runs and eight hits in her five innings on the mound.

McLoughlin was the story in the second game.  Facing a WNEC team that she lost to in last year's NCAA Tournament, McLoughlin had a perfect game going until two outs in the sixth inning when a runner reached base on an error. She lost her no-hit bid, when Jenn Piorkowski singled and scored in the seventh inning. McLoughlin, who picked up her first win of the season, gave up two hits while fanning five and giving up one walk in a complete game performance.

KSC scored unearned runs in the second and third innings. In  the second, Collis, Adria Reynolds (Portsmouth, N.H.) and Kurkowski strung hits together.  Foote scored on an error in the third. 

Keene State faces New England College and Wesleyan (Conn.) University on Tuesday.