Mounie to be a Tiger
Published 9:44 pm Thursday, November 19, 2015
![: Nansemond River High School softball star Jaclyn Mounie signs to play for Towson University on Tuesday as her family looks on. Her family, from left: Lori Mounie, Hope Mounie and Tim Mounie.](https://www.suffolknewsherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2015/11/DSCN4867.jpg)
: Nansemond River High School softball star Jaclyn Mounie signs to play for Towson University on Tuesday as her family looks on. Her family, from left: Lori Mounie, Hope Mounie and Tim Mounie.
A moment 10 years in the making occurred at Nansemond River High School on Tuesday.
Lady Warriors multi-sport star Jaclyn Mounie signed to play NCAA Division I softball for Towson University before a crowd of family, friends and coaches.
“It means everything,” Mounie said of the opportunity she has now formalized. “I’ve been working pretty much my whole life for it. That’s been my dream since I started playing softball.”
Mounie, 17, noted she started playing when she was 7 years old.
She narrowed her college choices down to Radford University, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and Towson.
Towson gained the edge because “I liked the school environment and also the coaches,” Mounie said. “They won me over when I went there, just their program and everything.”
Towson also had what she wanted to study — exercise science.
“It has everything for me,” she said.
She currently has a partial athletic scholarship, which could possibly have a partial academic scholarship added to it down the road.
Her parents, Tim and Lori Mounie, and sister, Hope Mounie, were all on hand for the signing ceremony.
“It’s exciting,” Lori Mounie said. “When your children set goals and reach them, it’s exciting. And she’s worked hard.”
Hope Mounie said, “I’m so proud. I’m her biggest fan.”
Nansemond River coach Gabe Rogers said, “For me, as her coach, it’s just pure excitement and joy to see another player fulfill their dreams of playing softball at college.”
Jaclyn Mounie expects to be used in the middle infield at Towson and said she could see playing time as a freshman “if I work hard.”
“She’s going to bring that blue collar work ethic that she’s always had, high intensity, the desire to play at a high level all the time, and she’s a player that’s going to challenge her other teammates to play hard,” Rogers said.