- Monica Abbott
-
Olympic medal record Competitor for 
United StatesWomen's Softball Olympic Games Silver Beijing 2008 Softball Monica Cecilia Abbott (born July 28, 1985) is an American athlete who pitched for the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers softball team from 2004-2007. In 2008, Abbott participated in the Beijing Olympics with Team USA. On May 4, 2010, she and catcher Shannon Doepking were traded by the Florida Pride to the Tennessee Diamonds in exchange for pitcher Cat Osterman and catcher Megan Willis.
During her senior season in college, she set the record for the most strikeouts in a Division I softball season and became the NCAA Division I Softball all-time leader in career wins, strikeouts, shutouts, innings pitched, games started and games pitched. She was the recipient of the 2007 Honda Sports Award for the sTop Collegiate Softball Player in the country and was named the 2007 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year. She was also named the 2007 Women's Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year.[1]
Contents
Early life
Abbott was born in Santa Cruz, CA and attended North Salinas High School from 1999 to 2003; her parents are Bruce and Julie Abbott, and her siblings are Jessica (born 1984), Jared (born 1988) and twins Bina and Gina (born 1991).
College career
Abbott pitched for the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers softball team from 2004-2007.
500 Strikeouts in a Season for the Fourth Time
On April 21, in Abbott's 33rd game started of the season, Abbott struck out her 500th batter of the season, thus becoming the first pitcher in NCAA Division I history to record 500 strikeouts in all four years of her collegiate career. Before Abbott started her collegiate career, only two pitchers had ever reached the 500-strikeout mark in any season (Courtney Blades and Cat Osterman). During Abbott's career from 2004 to 2007, Alicia Hollowell, Brooke Mitchell, Taryne Mowatt, Angela Tincher (twice) and Cat Osterman (twice more) would end up surpassing the 500-strikeout mark as well.
College National Player of the Year awards
Abbott finished her college career with significant season awards as the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and the winner of the Honda Award for Top Collegiate Softball Player.[1]
On October 16, 2007, Abbott won the Women's Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year award for Team Sports athletes.[1][2]
Post-Collegiate Career
After the conclusion of her senior season, Abbott went on to find success at both the professional and international levels.
2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China
Abbott was selected for the final 15-person Olympic squad as one of three pitchers. On August 11, 2008, Abbott made her Olympic debut for Team USA, pitching the final inning (in relief of starter Jennie Finch) of a 5-inning no-hit victory by Team USA over Venezuela. On August 18, 2008, Abbott pitched 5 perfect innings, striking out 8, as Team USA defeated the Netherland 8-0 to extend its Olympic winning streak to 20 games. In its first six matches of the Beijing games, the USA pitching staff (Finch, Osterman, Abbott) had allowed a total of one hit. Team USA finished with a silver medal, losing to Japan in the championship game, which was started by Osterman and finished by Abbott.
2009
On February 2, 2009, Abbott announced her signing with Toyota Motor Corporation on a six-month contract to play professional softball in Japan.
High School Awards
- 2000 North Salinas High School MVP
- 2000 North Salinas High School Freshman of the Year
- 2000 All League Pitcher of the Year
- 2000 All County Pitcher of the Year
- 2000 All Central Coast Section Co-Pitcher of the Year
- 2001 North Salinas High School MVP
- 2001 North Salinas High School Sophomore of the Year
- 2001 All League Player of the Year
- 2001 All County Player of the Year
- 2001 All Central Coast Section Player of the Year
- 2002 North Salinas High School Junior of the Year
- 2002 Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area Player of the Year
- 2002 San Jose Mercury Player of the Year
- 2002 All League MVP
- 2002 All County MVP
- 2002 All Central Coast Section MVP
- 2003 North Salinas High School MVP
- 2003 North Salinas High School Player of the Year
- 2003 Canada Cup 18-Under MVP
- 2003 Large School State Player of the Year
- 2003 All League MVP
- 2003 All League Pitcher of the Year
- 2003 All Central Coast Section MVP
- 2003 All Central Coast Section Pitcher of the Year
- 2003 All County MVP
- 2003 Cal-Hi Softball Athlete of the Year
Collegiate Awards
- 2004 Louisville Slugger/NFCA First Team All-American
- 2004 SEC Freshman of the Year
- 2004 SEC Pitcher of the Year
- 2004 All-SEC First Team
- 2005 Louisville Slugger/NFCA First Team All-American
- 2005 SEC Co-Pitcher of the Year
- 2005 All-SEC First Team
- 2005 WCWS All-Tournament Team
- 2006 Louisville Slugger/NFCA First Team All-American
- 2006 All-SEC Second Team
- 2006 WCWS All-Tournament Team
- 2007 Louisville Slugger/NFCA First Team All-American
- 2007 SEC Pitcher of the Year
- 2007 All-SEC First Team
- 2007 WCWS All-Tournament Team
- 2007 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year
- 2007 Honda Award - Top Collegiate Softball Player
- 2007 Women's Sports Foundation Sportsman of the Year
- 2007 Roy F. Kramer SEC Female Athlete of the Year
Career statistics
United States National Team
YEAR W L GP GS CG Sh SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA 2004 5 1 8 5 3 2 1 32.0 19 4 2 3 46 0.44 2005 2 0 2 2 0 0 0 7.0 6 4 4 2 8 4.00 2006 == == == == == == == == == == == == == == 2008 6 0 12 5 1 0 0 37 10 3 3 6 71 0.56 TOTALS 13 1 22 12 4 2 1 76.0 35 11 9 10 125 1.07 University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers
YEAR W L GP GS CG Sh SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA 2004 45 10 59 47 44 24 4 352.0 165 72 52 57 582 1.03 2005 50 9 69 56 47 34 3 392.0 162 37 29 45 603 0.52 2006 44 10 62 51 42 25 4 345.2 186 64 47 48 531 0.95 2007 50 5 63 52 45 29 5 358.1 136 36 35 63 724 0.68 TOTALS 189 34 253 206 178 112 16 1448 649 209 163 213 2440 0.787 Single Game Accomplishments
- 2nd highest 7-inning strikeout total of alltime (20), set on March 26 of her freshman year vs Liberty University
- 6 games of at least 17 strikeouts in a 7-inning game, a mark only accomplished 20 times in NCAA Division I history (including Abbott's performances)
Season Accomplishments
- 2007 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year
- Only Player with more than one 50-win season in a career (2)
- Only Player with four seasons of 40+ wins in a career
- Only Player with four 500-strikeout seasons (and two 600-strikeout seasons) in a collegiate career
- Most strikeouts in a season (2007) - 724
- Most games pitched in a season (2005) - 69
- Most wins and most strikeouts in a season by a freshman (2004) - 45 wins and 582 strikeouts
Career Accomplishments
- 2,440 career NCAA Division I strikeouts (1st alltime)
- 189 career NCAA Division I wins (1st alltime)
- 112 career shutouts (1st alltime)
- 253 career games pitched (1st alltime)
- 206 career games started (1st alltime)
- 1448 career innings pitched (1st alltime)
- 178 career complete games (2nd alltime)
- 11.80 career strikeouts per 7 innings (3rd alltime)
- .848 career win percentage (10th alltime)
- 16 career saves (tied-8th alltime)
- 23 career NCAA Division I no-hitters
- 6 career NCAA Division I perfect games
Notes
- ^ a b c Murphy, Melissa (2007-10-15). "Golfer Lorena Ochoa, softball star Monica Abbott win Sportswomen of the Year awards from WSF". USATODAY.com (Gannett Co. Inc.). http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2007-10-15-3446696963_x.htm. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
- ^ "Sportswoman of the Year Award". Women's Sports Foundation. http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/News-And-Events/Awards/Sportswoman-of-the-Year-Award.aspx. Retrieved 2009-08-03.
External links
Categories:- Living people
- 1985 births
- American softball players
- Tennessee Lady Volunteers softball players
- Softball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Olympic silver medalists for the United States
- Olympic softball players of the United States
- Olympic medalists in softball
- Female softball players
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
