Arizona rallies past Fullerton

Three-run home runs in the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings gave top-seeded Arizona its first lead and the Wildcats averted an upset by defeating Cal State Fullerton, 11-6, in the opener of an NCAA Division I softball super regional Saturday at Tucson.

Callista Balko accounted for Arizona’s first runs with her homer to left, and Laine Roth gave the Wildcats three more with her shot over the right field fence in the next inning -- only the fourth and fifth hits off Titans ace Candice Baker (21-13) to that point.

The Wildcats (32-21-1) battled back without their best player, three-time All-America center fielder Caitlin Lowe, who left the game after crashing into the fence chasing a hit by Crystal Vieyra that drove in two runs during Fullerton’s big first inning when it took a 5-0 lead.

Lowe suffered a bloody nose and was carried off the field on a stretcher. She returned to the dugout an inning later.

Fullerton (38-22) used five hits -- including two-run singles by Lauren Lupinetti and Vieyra, and an RBI single by Katie Gollhardt -- and an error to take a 5-0 lead.

The inning might have been bigger, but Vieyra was called out for passing Gollhardt between first and second after Lowe fell down at the wall.

The Wildcats moved to within one victory of their 19th College World Series appearance in the past 20 years. Game 2 in the best-of-three series is today.

*

UC Riverside clinched its first-ever Big West Conference baseball title with a 4-2 victory over UC Irvine at the Riverside Sports Complex. The Highlanders (37-18), who have won 15 of their last 17, are 16-4 in conference play, two games ahead of the Anteaters (39-15-1, 14-6).

*

Fourth-seeded Lindsey Nelson of USC advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Division I women’s tennis tournament at Athens, Ga., defeating sixth-seeded Kristi Miller of Georgia Tech, 6-3, 6-3. It was her third consecutive straight-set win.

Nelson will play second-seeded Megan Falcon of Louisiana State, who defeated Natalie Frazier of Georgia, 6-4, 6-4.

In the other semifinal, top-seeded Audra Cohen of Miami defeated Stanford’s Lindsay Burdette, 6-0, 6-2. She will play Baylor’s Zuzana Zemenova, who defeated UCLA’s Tracy Lin, 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-2.

*

Nicole Leach won her second consecutive women’s 400-meter hurdles title and anchored the 1,600-meter relay team to victory in the NCAA West Region track and field championships at Eugene, Ore.

Leach won the hurdles in a season-best time of 55.49. The relay team of Johanna Monthe, Maris Wisdom, Krystin Lacy and Leach ran a season-best 3:32.55.

Arizona State won with 94 points, followed by USC (74) and UCLA (67).

*

The top-ranked USC varsity eight advanced to the grand final of the NCAA Division women’s rowing championships for the third time in 10 years -- and first since 2003 -- by winning its semifinal heat in 6:27.29 on Melton Hill Lake at Oak Ridge, Tenn.