Monica Abbott
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. During her senior season, 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 Top 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
Early life
Abbott was born in Salinas, California and attended North Salinas High School from 2000 to 2004; her parents are Bruce and Julie Abbott, and her siblings are Jessica (born 1984), Jared (born 1988) and twins Bina and Gina (born 1991).
High School and Recruiting
One of the most sought after pitchers in the nation, Abbott averaged over 300 strikeouts in her three seasons as a prep star at North Salinas High School in Salinas, Calif. In her junior season, the southpaw tossed seven perfect games, while compiling a 0.17 ERA. She threw back-to-back perfect games in the Division I CCS playoffs of that year, striking out 14 of 15 batters in her first contest and 18 in the seven-inning championship game.
Abbott was tabbed as the California High School Sports Bay Area Player of the Year and Athlete of the Year and received the Prep Female Athlete of the Year accolade from the Monterey Herald.
Colleges which recruited Abbott included traditional softball powerhouses UCLA, Arizona State University and Cal-Berkeley. After her junior year, Abbott instead chose to attend The University of Tennessee, making her signing the largest recruiting "coup" in the history of a softball program which had only been competing in the sport since the 1997 season, and thus lacked the illustrious history and winning tradition of PAC-10 schools like UCLA and Arizona. The program had even sunk to recent lows of having two consecutive losing seasons in 2000 and 2001, before a coaching change brought co-coaches Ralph and Karen Weekly to the university in June of 2001. Coach Karen Weekly was quoted as saying the reason Abbott chose to attend a non-powerhouse program like Tennessee (along with fellow California standout Lindsay Schutzler) was the opportunity to participate in building a young program to levels of greatness. Monica was the first-ever USA National Team Player to sign with Tennessee, as she represented the USA at the Junior World Qualifying Tournament in Mexico in December 2003. Her summer coach, Keith Berg, routinely told Abbott's teammates that they might be playing with a future Olympian.
Before even starting her senior year of high school, on July 10, 2002, she pitched the Salinas Storm to a nine-inning victory over the Chinese Women's Taipei National Team. This veteran international team contained many of the same players that her future Lady Vol pitching coach Michele Granger (herself a record-setting collegiate pitcher and decorated amateur player) had faced in years leading up to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Remarkably, Abbott blanked the Chinese Taipei team and struck out 21 batters in the contest.
2004: Freshman year
Abbott got her college career off to a flying start, firing a no-hitter in her college debut and notching thirteen strikeouts in an 8-0 run win over of Saint Mary's. She followed it up with a perfect game in her third start of her career, equalling the school record for no-hitters in just three games. She became the first UT player to be named NCAA player of the week, ironically, in the very first week of her collegiate career.
On March 26th, 2004, Abbott struck out twenty batters in a regulation seven-inning game against Liberty University, the second highest total in a seven-inning game behind Michele Granger's 21-strikeout game in 1991. Coincidentally, Granger happened to be Abbott's pitching coach during the game.
As a freshman, Abbott became Tennessee's first ever All-American by being selected as a Louisville Slugger/NFCA First Team All-American. She was named as one of the ten finalists for USA Softball's Collegiate Player of the Year Award, the first Lady Vol to be recognized.
In the SEC tournament, she overpowered No. 13 Alabama with her seventh one-hitter of the season to keep the Orange alive, 1-0. She carded a dozen K's in tying Katie Wiese's (Oregon) NCAA freshman record of 42 wins that had stood since 1989. Abbott and the Lady Vols couldn't make it to the Women's College World Series because of a shocking 6-5 loss to the University of Illinois at Chicago at the Ann Arbor regionals.
For the season, Abbott became the third pitcher in NCAA history to notch 500 strikeouts in a season, supplanting both Britni Sneed's SEC's season record (478) and Cat Osterman's 2004 freshman record (554) with 582 strikeouts in 352 innings. In 59 appearances, Monica was 45-10, compiled a 1.03 earned run average with 44 complete games and 24 solo shutouts, four no-hitters and a perfect game.
2005: Sophomore year
Much was expected from the lefty after her tremendous debut season and Abbott became a two-time first-team Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-American and All-South Region selection after going 50-9 with a 0.52 ERA in 392.0 innings-pitched. Abbott's 69 games pitched set an all-time Division I record. She was chosen as the SEC Pitcher of the Year and first-team All-SEC, both for the second consecutive season, and was again selected as a finalist for the USA Softball Player of the Year award.
After posting a freshman record 45 wins, she led the country and broke her own school record for single season wins (50, tying the second highest mark in history), and finished tops in the nation in strikeouts's for the second consecutive season with 603 (the third highest mark in history). Thus, she became the first pitcher in NCAA Division I history to record 500 strikeouts in a season twice in her career. Her 34 solo shutouts shattered her 2004 school record total of 24, were the second highest season total in Division I history, and helped guide UT to a national mark for blankings with 51.
In the most important games of the season, Abbott proved to be at her best. In the run-up to the WCWS, Abbott ran off 59 consecutive scoreless innings from the end of the regular season through the SEC tournament, before giving up a run to No. 9 Alabama in SEC tournament play. She followed that up with another scoreless streak of 43.3 innings from the opening frame on May fifteen against Alabama to the two out mark of the first inning of the contest against No. 7 UCLA in the NCAA WCWS. In Tennessee's opening game, Abbott one-hit No. 3 Arizona and struck out twelve in UT's 1-0 victory for the Lady Vols' initial WCWS victory in program history. Later, she kept UT from elimination by shutting out No. 8 Alabama 4-0 at the WCWS. She hurled a career-high eleven innings in a late-night matchup versus No. 1 Michigan as Tennessee picked up a 2-0 win to force a winner-take-all semi-final rematch which Tennessee lost. For the tournament, Abbott was named to the WCWS All-Tourney team.
2006: Junior year
Having been arguably the best pitcher in the land during her first two seasons (along with Texas' Osterman), Abbott started reaching significant career milestones in her junior season.
On February 19, Monica won her 100th game in a 13-1 victory over the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine, becoming the 40th pitcher in NCAA Division I history to record her centennial win (Cat Osterman beat her to the plateau by nine days).
On March 14, Abbott struck out ten in game one of a doubleheader against Belmont, to break the Southeastern Conference career strikeout record (1,370) held by former LSU star Britni Sneed (1999-2002). Monioca had 27 strikeouts in 15 inning
On April 11, she won her 120th (2-0) and 121st (5-2) games in a doubleheader against Austin Peay State University, tying and passing both Sarah Dawson (Louisiana-Monroe) and Britni Sneed (LSU) for seventh place on the all-time wins list (following Osterman by 14 days). More significantly, the victory broke Sneed's SEC career record for wins.
On April 16, she won her 124th game in a 3-1 win over Ole Miss, tying Nancy Evans (Arizona) for sixth place, and trailing Osterman by two days; on April 18, Monica won her 125th game in a 7-0 win over South Carolina to pass Evans for sixth place.
On May 6, Monica won her 130th game in a 4-0 win over LSU, tying her with Keria Goerl (UCLA) and Cat Osterman for fifth place (seven days after Osterman); on May 11, she passed Goerl and Osterman with her 131st win, a 6-0 victory over Florida, to take sole possession of fifth place. Abbott and Osterman continued to jostle for placement through the end of May; on May 27, Osterman won her 135th game to tie Abbott for fifth place once more, on the same day that Alicia Hollowell won her 139th game to tie Rhonda Wheatley for third place.
On May 28, Abbott won her 136th game, three days before Osterman would win her 136th (and final) game, pulling ahead for good; On June 4, Monica won her 139th game, a 1-0 win over the Arizona Wildcats, to tie Rhonda Wheatley for fourth place on the all-time wins list.
Abbott won the SEC Tournament's Most Valuable Player after going 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and 13 strikeouts's in seventeen innings of work in helping Tennessee pick up its first SEC title. In the NCAA Regional following, she gave up an unimpressive six runs in fifteen innings of work in NCAA Regional No. 4, but posted a 2-0 record anyway with 26 strikeouts's, as Tennessee progressed to the Super Regional. Needing a victory to advance, Abbott worked 14.1 strong innings and closed out defending national champion and No. 13 Michigan with a five-hit shutout to help UT back to the WCWS.
In the Women's College World Series, Abbott led Tennessee to a 4-3 upset of #1 seed UCLA, striking out eleven. Later, Abbott struck out fifteen in a loss to Northwestern University and ten in a 3-1 victory over Arizona State to avoid elimination from the WCWS. She was chosen WCWS All-Tournament for her efforts in Oklahoma City.
Personal best streaks for Abbott during her junior season included 57.1 scoreless innings, seventeen consecutive wins and 23.2 consecutive hitless innings.
At the end of her junior campaign, she stood fourth on the all-time NCAA Division I strikeout list with 1716, and fourth all-time in NCAA victories with 139. She also became the only pitcher in Division I history with three 500-strikeout seasons, with all three seasons standing in the top seven all-time.
National accolades for Abbott included being chosen as one of three finalists for the USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year award, one of four finalists for the Honda Award for Softball, first-team Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-American and first-team All-South Region choice.
2007: Senior year
Abbott opened the season with a career best nineteen game winning streak before losing her first game to the University of Mississippi on March 14 (pitching the second game of a doubleheader after winning the first on a one-hit, seventeen strikeout shutout). During the streak, she became the career leader in wins and shutouts, while moving into second place in strikeouts behind University of Texas great Cat Osterman. Also notably, she compiled a scoreless innings streak of 96.1 innings, the fourth longest such streak in NCAA Division I softball history, before giving up her first earned run of the season, against the University of Florida on March 11. The day before, Abbott had set her personal best with 22 strikeouts in a ten-inning, one-hit shutout of Florida.
On March 21, Abbott pitched her 216th career game, breaking Courtney Blades' career record set in 2000.
On March 24, Abbott notched her 100th career 10+ strikeout performance against the University of Arkansas.
On March 25, Abbott recorded her 100th career shutout with a one-hit fourteen-strikeout win over the University of Arkansas.
In the first inning of just her 26th game started (33rd appearance), she struck out her 400th batter of the season (against Western Kentucky). She went on the record fourteen strikeouts for the game, and struck out another four in two innings of relief in the second game of the doubleheader.
On April 7, Abbott pitched her 21st career no-hitter and 6th career perfect game, with a win against the University of Georgia.
On April 22, with Abbott spearheading a three-game sweep of Auburn University, the University of Tennessee became the fastest team in SEC history to reach 50 wins in a season (52 games).
On April 29, Abbott struck out nienteen hitters over two starts vs #6 LSU (finishing 1-and-1) to move into a tie for the alltime NCAA Division I strikeout lead with Cat Osterman.
On May 6, Abbott became the NCAA Division I strikeout leader by striking out Alabama's Charlotte Morgan in the top of the first inning in the first game of a doubleheader. Cat Osterman witnessed Abbott break her record as an ESPN color analyst for the game. The doubleheader featured a historic #1 (Alabama) vs #2 (Tennessee) match-up (the first in SEC softball history). Abbott's victory in the first game made her the first player in NCAA Division I history to record 40 victories in all four years of her collegiate career. Abbott also pitched the final three innings in relief in the second contest as Tennessee triumphed to clinch their first SEC Conference regular season title and move back into the #1 ranking at the end of the regular season (Tennessee had briefly lost the ESPN.com/Amateur Softball Association #1 ranking the weekend before to Alabama after holding it for a record eleven consecutive weeks).
Abbott finished Tennessee's regular-season schedule with 560 strikeouts (with more anticipated on the SEC and NCAA tournaments), the sixth greatest season total. She struck out the side 101 times in 269 innings.
On May 9, on the eve of the SEC tournament, Abbott received her third career SEC Pitcher of the Year award. Teammate India Chiles won the SEC Player of the Year award and teammate Lindsay Schutzler received the SEC Softball Scholar Athlete of the Year designation. Later she would add her fourth consecutive NFCA All-South first-team selection.
On May 11, Abbott started her 194th career game in an SEC tournament loss to #19 Florida, breaking Debbie Nichols' career record for games started. Abbott's 13 strikeouts in the contest gave her 573 for the season, ninety behind the season record of 663 held by Courtney Blades.
In the NCAA Regional in Knoxville (May 18-20), Abbott compiled 42 strikeouts over nineteen scoreless innings as Tennessee advanced to the Super Regional portion of the NCAA tournament. Over that weekend, Abbott became the first pitcher with two seasons of at least 600 strikeouts.
On May 24 and 25, the University of Tennessee defeated #12 the University of Hawaii in a best-of-three Super Regional series in Knoxville to advance to the Women's College World Series for the fourth consecutive year. In the series, Abbott hurled her 22nd career no-hitter and raised her strikeout total to 649 for the season, the second-best mark of all-time.
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.
For historical perspective, 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, Taryn Mowatt, Angela Tinscher (twice) and Cat Osterman (twice more) would end up surpassing the 500-strikeout mark as well.
After Abbott's senior season, she would hold four of only thirteen total 500+ strikeout seasons in NCAA Division I history.
2007 Womens College World Series
On May 31, in Tennessee's opening game of the Women's College World Series, Abbott struck out Texas A&M's Alex Reynolds in the seventh inning to break Courtney Blades' season record for strikeouts (663). Abbott finished with sixteenth strikeouts and her 23rd career no-hitter as Tennessee defeated Texas A&M 2-0.
On June 2, Abbott became the all-time career leader in innings pitched, surpassing Rhonda Wheatley. Abbott struck out sixteen as the University of Tennessee upset the #1 seed and defending champion University of Arizona 1-0.
On June 3, Abbott struck out seventeen as the University of Tennessee moved in the WCWS Championship Round for the first time in history with a 3-0 victory over Northwestern University.
On June 4, Abbott pitched a four-hit shutout as the University of Tennessee took the first game of the best-of-three Championship Round over the defending champion University of Arizona, 3-0. The victory gave Abbott 50 wins for the season, making her the first softball pitcher in history to accomplish the feat twice in a four year career. During the game, Abbott also became the first player to strike out 700 hitters in a season.
On June 5, Abbott pitched shutout ball until the tenth inning before an unearned run gave the University of Arizona a 1-0 victory, forcing a deciding third game. The University of Tennessee stranded fourteen baserunners in the contest but could not score against the opposing pitcher, Taryn Mowatt. Abbott's eleven strikeouts gave her 68 total during the Women's College World Series, breaking future 2008 Olympic teammate and University of Arizona great Alicia Hollowell's mark for most strikeouts in a Women's College World Series.
On June 6, Abbott lost the deciding game of the Women's College World Series to Taryne Mowatt and the University of Arizona, 5-0. Mowatt, who was named the Outstanding Player of the Tournament, outpitched Abbott in the final game, surpassing Abbott's brief hold on the tournament strikeout record (76 to 75) and setting further records for most wins (seven) and innings pitched (60) in a Women's College World Series. Both Mowatt and Abbott would be named to the Tournament All-Star Team. The final series of the tournament was notable in the history of Division I collegiate softball as the first World Series to feature a matchup of two pitchers with over 500 strikeouts during the season, and the most total strikeouts between two pitchers facing each other in a tournament game (over 1250). The University of Arizona became the first team since UCLA in 2003 to repeat as champions.
Abbott would finish her 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.
Post-Collegiate Career
After the conclusion of her senior season, Abbott went on to find success at both the professional and international levels.
In July 2007, Abbott closed out the national team’s efforts at the Pan Am Games in Brazil by hurling a two-hit shutout with eight strikeouts against Canada to secure the gold for Team USA, the program’s sixth-consecutive Pan American gold medal. The USA Softball team finished the 2007 international season 20-0, with Abbott posting a team-best 6-0 record as a member of the rotation. She allowed no earned runs, no walks and no extra-base hits in 26.2 innings pitched.
Abbott struck out eighteen batters in her first professional appearance as the Washington Glory defeated Cat Osterman and the Rockford Thunder 3-2 on August 2 at Washington. Abbott finished the complete game while Osterman lasted eight innings.
In August 2007, Abbott was selected the Playoff MVP of the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) Softball League. She threw a no-hitter in the August 25 morning playoff game against her USA Softball teammate Osterman, earned the save in the game later that day and in the Championship game, pitched five shutout innings, allowing only one hit to allow the Glory to earn the NPF Championship.
In September 2007, Abbott was one of eighteen women selected to the roster of the 2008 U.S. National team, the official roster for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games to be held in Beijing, China. Abbott joined Jennie Finch (Arizona), Lisa Fernandez (UCLA), Alicia Hollowell (Arizona) and Cat Osterman (Texas) in forming the 2008 pitching staff for U.S. Head Coach Mike Candrea.
On October 16, 2007, Abbott won the Women's Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year award for Team Sports athletes. Abbott joined golfer Lorena Ochoa, who won the Individual Sports award. Abbott beat out a distinguished field of professional and amateur nominees, including Lauren Jackson (WNBA basketball), Kristine Lilly (soccer), Kristen Kjellman (lacrosse), Danielle Peers (wheelchair basketball), Kelly Scott (curling - 2007 world champion) and Hayley Wickenheiser (ice hockey).
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 First Team All-American Pitcher of the Year
- 2004 SEC Freshman of the Year
- 2004 SEC Pitcher of the Year
- 2005 First Team All-American Pitcher of the Year
- 2005 SEC Co-Pitcher of the Year
- 2005 Women's College World Series First Team
- 2006 First Team All-American Pitcher of the Year
- 2006 Women's College World Series First Team
- 2007 First Team All-American Pitcher of the Year
- 2007 SEC Pitcher of the Year
- 2007 Women's College World Series First Team
- 2007 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year
- 2007 Honda Sports Award - Top Collegiate Softball Player
- 2007 Women's Sports Foundation Sportsman 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 | == | == | == | == | == | == | == | == | == | == | == | == | == | == |
| TOTALS | 7 | 1 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 39.0 | 25 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 54 | 1.08 |
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 26th 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