PLEASANTON - Down to its last strike, Amador Valley found lightning in a bottle on Monday afternoon when Allyson Kim's bases-loaded two-out hit ended up clearing the bases and lifting the Dons to an improbable 5-4 walk-off win over visiting Elk Grove.
Amador Valley took an early 2-0 lead when Chloe Engel's two-out double in the bottom of the first inning scored both Kim and Mia Hildebrand. Neither team scored after that until the Thundering Herd scored four times in the top of the fifth inning. Ariyana Miranda tied the game on a one-out double to left field and sophomore Katherine Wolf drove in two more runs with a two-out single to center field.
The two-run advantage held up for Elk Grove until the bottom of the seventh. Engel and Maddie Hildebrand singled and walked to lead off the inning, but the next two batters struck out. Sophia Youngberg came through with a crucial at-bat for the Dons, fouling off three straight pitches to eventually earn a walk and load the bases for Kim, who took one strike and fouled off the second pitch she saw before coming through with the game-winning hit.
