FORT MYERS, Fla. – Freshman Kendall Meehan (Danvers, Mass.) went 4-for-4 with two RBI and three runs scored as the Nichols College softball team opened the 2015 season with a 9-1 win over Rockford University Thursday morning in non-conference action at the Lee Country Sports Complex.

Classmate Courtney Manarky (Amston, Conn.) also drove in a pair as the Bison (1-0) pounded out 10 hits and saw six different student-athletes cross the dish. Junior Haley Fountain (Warren, Mass.) laced two hits at the plate and surrendered four hits and one run over five innings to earn the win in the circle.

Nichols scored a pair in the first when sophomore Meghan Sears (Tewksbury, Mass.) hit a grounder to first that went for a two-run error. Manarky and Fountain recorded RBI singles in the second to highlight a three-run inning and make it 5-0.

Sophomore Christina Barrows (Carver, Mass.) launched an RBI double down the left field line in the third before Meehan plated Barrows with a single up the middle to extend the lead to 7-1. An RBI double from Meehan and an RBI triple from Manarky in the fifth ended the game.

Nichols plays Geneva at 1 p.m. Rockford (2-7) concludes its trip south against Salem State at 11 a.m.