LITTLE RIVER, S.C. – The Keene State College softball team was held scoreless for the first 12 innings of Saturday's two games in Myrtle Beach and saw a late rally in the second contest come up short as they lost to Thiel College 1-0 and State University of New York-Polytechnic Institute 7-5 at the North Myrtle Beach Sports Complex as part of the Fastpitch Dreams Spring Classic.

The first game featured a pitchers' duel between Lilah Demmy (0-2) of the Owls and Kayla Roddy of Thiel, with Demmy setting a new career-best of 11 strikeouts in a complete game effort.  She wound up suffering a tough luck loss, with the only run of the game coming in top half of the sixth when Kylie Heid singled to left, stole second, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt on third, and scored on an infield grounder to third.  Aside from that the Tomcats got very little going, mustering just four singles and going 1-for-12 with runners on base.  They struck out multiple times in four of the seven innings and had three different players whiff at least two times.

Keene State finished with seven hits, all singles, and never advanced a runner to third.  The Owls did have two runners on three different times, but Roddy (2-1) proved tough to solve as KSC stranded eight on base.  In the first inning, Carissa Miller singled with one out and Grace Wallace cracked a base hit of her own two batters later to put two on with two down, but a pop up to second ended the inning.  The Owls had runners on first and second with one out in the very next inning, but an infield fly and strike out snuffed out that rally.  In the fourth, Kalle Halvorsen and Elyse Picard singled consecutively with two outs, but Roddy struck out Molly Murray to escape any trouble once again.  The Thiel hurler got stronger as the game went on, retiring the final eight batters in order as KSC's offense dried up and the Tomcats' run in the sixth proved to be the difference.
Roddy allowed seven hits and struck out six in the complete game shutout.  She did not walk a batter.

Demmy surrendered just four hits and one run in her effort, walking two to go along with the career-high 11 strikeouts, surpassing her previous high of 10.

KSC's (0-5) offense remained dormant as they fell into a five-run hole in the fourth inning of the day's second game, and two SUNY Poly (3-1) runs in the sixth proved to be critical as the Wildcats staved off a late Owl comeback.  Down 5-0 in the fourth, KSC got two runs closer in the sixth when Wallace singled to plate Liv Whittier and Halvorsen.  However, SUNY Poly answered with a pair of runs on a two-out single in the sixth to go up 7-2, and those runs proved to be critical when Whittier drove in two with a single to right and moved to second on an error, which also brought home a run to make it a 7-5 game.  The game ended on the basepaths when she tried to go to third on the play, but catcher Kaitlyn Findlay corralled the relay throw and tossed to third, where eventually Whittier was tagged out by leftfielder Jaydn Childers in the rundown.

The Owls had a chance to jump in front early when Whittier and Wallace each singled and advanced into scoring position with less than two outs in the second, but a pop out and a groundout ended that threat.  SUNY Poly then went on to take a 4-0 lead on the third on four hits, though only one went out of the infield, and a pair of KSC miscues.  They played from ahead from there, going up 5-0 in the fourth on a triple by Ava Faragon and RBI groundout by Alivia Turk.

KSC was held scoreless for five innings by Joy Stevens (1-0), who eventually allowed 11 hits (seven in the final two innings) and five runs (four earned).  She walked one and struck out five.

Emma Chenette (0-1) took the loss for the Owls, allowing six hits and four runs (two earned) in three innings.  She walked two.

Whittier finished 4-for-4 at the plate with two RBI, and Wallace was 3-for-3 and drove in a pair.  Halvorsen (2-4, 2 R) also had a multi-hit game, but the Owls could not overcome four errors.

The top three in SUNY Poly's lineup (Faragon, Turk, Kimberly Birmingham) combined to finish 7-for-10, drive in four runs, and score five.

The Owls had no-hit the Wildcats in an 8-0, five inning win a year ago in Myrtle Beach in the only previous meeting between the teams.

KSC will look to right the ship on St. Patrick's Day Sunday when they take on the University of Minnesota-Morris at 9:00 a.m. and the University of Mount St. Vincent at 11:00 a.m.  The Owls are in Myrtle Beach through Tuesday, taking on SUNY Poly again on the final day of competition (Tuesday) before returning to New England.