The West Valley softball team let a 2-0 fifth-inning lead slip away, and the Vikings dropped a 3-2 non-league contest at Modesto Friday. WVC (21-11, 6-3 Coast) faces a critical Coast Conference home game Tuesday against Monterey Peninsula (22-12-1, 5-5), as the regular season enters its final two weeks.

Kassady Alcazar led off the game with a solo home run to right, and the Vikings would make it 2-0 in the second when Emma Courtney scored on a Modesto error. The West Valley lead would hold until the bottom of the sixth when the Pirates (12-23, 3-16 Big 8) pushed across three runs to rally for the win. 

Alcazar had two of West Valley's four hits, while Viking starter America Maples hurled four four-hit, scoreless, three-strikeout innings.