'FORT MYERS, FLA. 03/17/06 - The Keene State College softball team closed out its spring week trip with an 8-3 record with victories over Bowdoin College (7-1) and Norwich (Vt.) University (6-2) in Fort Myers, Fla., on Friday. 

The Owls wasted no time getting on the board against Bowdoin.  After two consecutive walks, Sarah Campbell (Auburn, Mass.) blasted a two-run double in the first to put KSC up 2-0.  In the second inning, Jessica Starkey (Keene, N.H.) hit a run-producing single and Campbell scored two runs on her second double of the game.  Melissa Scata (Medway, Mass.) plated a run on a wild pitch in the fourth and Starkey hit a lead-off double, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Kaity Conklin (Selkirk, N.Y.) in the sixth.

Ashlee Nicholson (Swanzey, N.H.) got the complete game win on the mound for the Owls.  She allowed one run on seven hits, fanned six, and did not issue a walk in seven innings. 

Campbell finished the game with two hits and four RBI and Starkey had two hits to lead KSC.  

Conklin, Tiffany Underhill (Eastham, Mass.), and Campbell homered, their first of the season, to lead the Owls' against Norwich in the nightcap. Conklin set the stage hitting a one-run home run in the first.  KSC added a run in the third with an RBI single from Campbell.  Underhill plated the only run in the fourth with a home run, and Campbell followed with a two-run homer in the fifth.  The last run came across in the fifth after Underhill hit into a fluke double play, where Katie Allenson (Clifton Park, N.Y.), who doubled to get on, plated the final run before the final out. 

Kari Gardner (Grafton, Mass.) scattered three hits over 5 1/3 innings of work with five strikeouts and five walks to pick up the win.  Nicholson notched the save with a scoreless seventh.  She fanned two batters in relief.

Keene State will start its conference slate with a doubleheader against Western Conn. State University on Saturday, April 1st (1 p.m.) at Owl Athletic Complex.