February 21, 1999

RALEIGH, N.C. - University of Maryland extended its win skein to a school-record seven consecutive games before the streak was snapped with a 6-5, eight-inning loss to Minnesota in the semifinals of the Triangle Classic here Sunday afternoon.

The Terps, who went 5-1 in the three-day tournament to finish in third place, had reached the semifinals with a 6-2 win over Akron earlier in the day. The win over the Zips was the seventh straight in the past week for the Terps, bettering the previous school best of six wins in a row set in 1996 and equaled last year.

Maryland came close to reaching the championship game vs. Illinois-Chicago, the only ranked team in the field. The Terps, who scored all five of their runs vs. Minnesota in the second inning, wasted bases loaded opportunities in the fourth and sixth innings. Instead, the game was decided on the international tiebreaker rule, with Minnesota's Angel Braden driving in Jordanne Nygren from second base with the winning run in the top of the eighth inning.

Senior pitcher Kelly Shipman, who was 2-1 in the tournament, took the loss for the Terps despite walking none and striking out 10 batters. She was victimized by five Maryland errors and five hit batters.

The Terps trailed 3-0 before erupting for five runs in the third inning. Maryland had all seven of its hits in the frame, highlighted by a two-run homer by Annmarie Browne and run-scoring singles by Jennifer Potzman, Cortney Madea and Michelle Burrell.

In Sunday's first game, the Terps scored all the runs they needed in the first inning when they plated three runs, the key blow a two-out, two-run single by Beth Radford. The Terps also added one run in the fourth and two in the fifth to make a winner out of freshman pitcher Amanda Bettker, who improved her season record to 5-2.

Now 11-7 on the season, the Terps will play in their fourth consecutive tournament this weekend when they travel to Chattanooga, Tenn., to participate in the Choo-Choo Classic. The tournament is hosted by UT-Chattanooga.

  Game One

  Maryland  3 0 0  1 2 0  0   6 2 0
  Akron     0 0 0  0 0 2  0   2 7 1

  Bettker and Radford; McCoy (L), Keenan (5) and Metzger. 

  Game Two

  Minnesota   1 0 2   2 0 0   0 1   6 4 0
  Maryland    0 0 5   0 0 0   0 0   5 7 5

  Brown, Klaviter (3) and Smith; Shipman and Radford. W--
  Klaviter.