Monica Abbott

Monica Abbott
Personal information
Full name Monica Cecilia Abbott
Nationality American
Born July 28, 1985 (age 29)
Santa Cruz, California
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Sport
College team Tennessee Lady Volunteers
Olympic medal record
Competitor for  United States
Women's Softball
Olympic Games
Silver Beijing 2008 Softball
ISF Women's World Championship
Gold 2006 Beijing
Gold 2010 Caracas
World Cup of Softball
Silver 2005 Oklahoma City
Gold 2006 Oklahoma City
Gold 2007 Oklahoma City
Gold 2009 Oklahoma City
Gold 2010 Oklahoma City
Pan American Games
Gold 2007 Rio de Janeiro
Canada Cup
Silver 2005 South Surrey
Gold 2006 South Surrey
Gold 2007 South Surrey
Gold 2009 South Surrey

Monica Cecilia Abbott (born July 28, 1985) is an American athlete who pitched for the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers softball team from 2004 to 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 she 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 Top Collegiate Softball Player in the country and she 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]

Her favorite Bible quote is Ephesians 5:1 “Therefore be imitators of Christ as dearly loved children and live a life of love as Christ loves us.”

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 to 2007.

500 Strikeouts in a Season for the Fourth Time

On April 21, in Abbott's 33rd game started of the season, she 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 other 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 (tice) 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 only 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

Collegiate Awards

Career statistics

United States National Team

YEAR W L GP GS CG Sh SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA WHIP
2004 5 1 8 5 3 2 1 32.0 19 4 2 3 46 0.43 0.68
2005 2 0 2 2 0 0 0 7.0 6 4 4 2 8 4.00 1.14
2008 6 0 12 5 1 0 0 37.0 10 3 3 6 71 0.56 0.43
TOTALS 13 1 22 12 4 2 1 76.0 35 11 9 10 125 0.83 0.59

University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers

YEAR W L GP GS CG Sh SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA WHIP
2004 45 10 59 47 44 24 4 352.0 165 72 52 57 582 1.03 0.63
2005 50 9 69 56 47 34 3 392.0 162 37 29 45 603 0.52 0.53
2006 44 10 62 51 42 25 4 345.2 186 64 47 48 531 0.95 0.68
2007 50 5 63 52 45 29 5 358.1 136 36 35 63 724 0.68 0.55
TOTALS 189 34 253 206 178 112 16 1448.0 649 209 163 213 2440 0.79 0.59

NPF Chicago Bandits

YEAR W L GP GS CG Sh SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA WHIP
2007 2 0 == 3 2 == 2 23.2 19 10 5 2 37 1.51 0.90
2009 2 3 == 6 5 == 0 45.1 30 15 10 9 69 1.55 0.86
2010 7 11 19 17 17 3 0 127.1 89 30 19 13 161 1.04 0.80
2011 15 4 22 14 12 5 1 125.0 58 25 20 17 170 1.12 0.60
2012 16 3 26 17 15 7 4 140.0 72 25 21 37 209 1.05 0.78
2013 18 5 25 18 17 9 1 142.2 99 25 21 25 207 1.03 0.87
2014 10 7 20 == == == 3 105.2 62 24 16 30 144 1.06 0.87
TOTALS 70 33 +112 +75 +68 +24 11 709.2 429 154 112 133 997 1.10 0.79

Single Game Accomplishments

Season Accomplishments

Career Accomplishments

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 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.). Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  2. ↑ "Sportswoman of the Year Award". Women's Sports Foundation. Retrieved 2009-08-03.

External links