Tuscarora’s softball season ends just short of perfection

“My senior year I was the last out and it really hurt,” Bowles said. “I related to her, and that’s the only time I really thought of myself, in that moment.”

The loss to Hanover put an end to a program-defining season for Bowles’s Huskies (24-1), who reached the state championship for the first time.

Lindsey Mullen threw a no-hitter in Tuscarora’s 2-0 semifinal win over King George and was stellar again in the title game, striking out 10 and holding Hanover scoreless through six innings. The Richmond-area school pushed across a run in the top of the seventh, and the Huskies couldn’t match.

A dominant, undefeated run came to an end.

“They played their hearts out for one another,” Bowles said. “It was tough but we’re still super, super proud… [we’re] still winners, even though that second place trophy that they hand you hurts a little bit.”