Nansemond River High School junior second baseman Jaclyn Mounie made the 2015 Virginia High School League Group 4A all-state first team for softball, while her teammate, senior outfielder Morgan Lowers, made the second team.

This was the first time Mounie had ever made the first team at the state level.

“I honestly wasn’t expecting it,” she said. “It was a surprise to me, but you work for it every year, you just never know if you’re going to get it. So I was pretty pleased with myself and excited.”

“Obviously Jac’s a tremendous player,” Lady Warriors coach Gabe Rogers said. “That’s why she’s getting the opportunity to play softball at the collegiate level.”

He was alluding to her commitment to play NCAA Division I ball for Towson University.

Last year, Mounie made the all-state second team along with four of her teammates, while two others, including Lowers, made the first team.

These accolades were in large part due to Nansemond River’s 2014 run that went as far as the state semifinals.

This year, the Lady Warriors fell in the regional quarterfinals.

Nevertheless, Mounie still made it to the all-state first team level of recognition. She said she did not know why, “because my whole team did great.”

“I’m not sure what stood out just about me,” she said. “I think my fielding, my defense was better this year. My offense was a little off this year, so I’ve got to pick it up somehow.”

Rogers figured Mounie’s reputation preceded her.

“I think a large part of it had to do with the fact that probably a lot of these coaches that coach high school do travel (ball),” he said. “They’re involved with the travel softball in some fashion.”

Mounie is a standout travel ball player for the Virginia Legends 18U Premier team and has traveled to places around the country playing in tournaments.

Additionally, in school ball, she has accumulated a lot of accolades to her name. She was the 2015 Ironclad Conference softball Player of the Year.

“I think those accolades tend to add up,” Rogers said.

He said the way the voting was done this year, there was only one second baseman chosen to the first team, meaning she was likely being measured solely against the other second basemen in the state at the 4A level.

“There probably just wasn’t anybody better than her,” Rogers said.

She finished the season with a .992 fielding percentage, and on offense, she ended up with a .346 batting average, including going 4-for-6 in the postseason. She finished the year with a .538 on-base percentage and a .460 slugging percentage.

Mounie led the Lady Warriors with 18 runs and 17 runs batted in, she had multiple avenues to getting on base, leading the team in walks and hits by pitches, and she did whatever was necessary to help her team, including leading it in sacrifices.

Morgan Lowers missed six games during the regular season and all three postseason games, and most of those absences were due to sustained illness. But an impressive senior season still shone through.

“In a very difficult district, to have the numbers that she had this year, I think that carried a lot of weight,” Rogers said.

Like with Mounie, he also thought name recognition had a lot to do with her reaching the state level of recognition. Her compilation of career accolades and continued growth this season helped, as well.

“Last year’s honors to go with improved numbers this year probably is what the coaches recognized and kind of got her there,” he said. “If she had been able to play a full season, she probably would have made first team again this year.”