Monica Abbott

Monica Cecilia Abbott (born July 28, 1985) is an American, former collegiate 4-time First Team All-American, medal winning Olympian, 8-time pro All-Star, left-handed softball pitcher originally from Salinas, California. She is the pitching Triple Crown career leader for the Tennessee Lady Vols (2004-07), as well as the Southeastern Conference, where she is also tops in career shutouts, WHIP, innings pitched, strikeout ratio, perfect games and no hitters. Abbott is simultaneously the NCAA Division I leader in wins, strikeouts, shutouts and innings. During her senior season in college, she set the record for the most strikeouts in a Division I softball season. 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.[1] She was also named the 2007 Women's Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year.[2] Finally she also holds the career records in wins, strikeouts, no hitters and shutouts for the National Pro Fastpitch, where she was originally drafted #12 overall, and has also played internationally in Japan. Abbott was a 5-time Pitcher of The Year and left the league in 2017 a three-time defending honoree and Cowles Cup Champion and series MVP, which she repeated on three other occasions in 2007, 2009 and 2015. She is currently a member of the independent "This is Us" team as well as Team USA.[3] In 2008, Abbott participated in the Beijing Olympics with Team USA and is slated to be on the roster for the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics.[4]

Monica Abbott
Scrap Yard Fast Pitch – No. 14
Pitcher
Born: (1985-07-28) July 28, 1985
Santa Cruz, California, U.S.
Bats: Left Throws: Left
NPF debut
June 11, 2010, for the Tennessee Diamonds
NPF statistics
Win–loss record126–41
Earned run average1.01
Strikeouts1,626
Saves18
Teams
Career highlights and awards
Medal record
Women's softball
Representing  United States
Olympic Games
2008 Beijing Team
ISF Women's World Championship
2006 Beijing Team
2010 Caracas Team
2018 Chiba City Team
World Cup of Softball
2005 Oklahoma City Team
2006 Oklahoma City Team
2007 Oklahoma City Team
2009 Oklahoma City Team
2010 Oklahoma City Team
2018 Irvine, CA Team
Pan American Games
2007 Rio de Janeiro Team
2019 Lima Team
Canada Cup
2005 South Surrey Team
2006 South Surrey Team
2007 South Surrey Team
2009 South Surrey Team
National Pro Fastpitch
1st 2007 season Washington Glory
1st 2011 season Chicago Bandits
1st 2015 season Chicago Bandits
1st 2017 season Scrap Yard Dawgs

Early life

Abbott was born in Santa Cruz, California 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.

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 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.[5][6][7]

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.[2]

On October 16, 2007, Abbott won the Women's Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year award for Team Sports athletes.[2][8]

Single-game accomplishments
  • NCAA Division I tied-2nd highest 7-inning strikeout total of all-time (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 all-time)
  • 189 career NCAA Division I wins (1st all-time)
  • 112 career shutouts (1st all-time)
  • 253 career games pitched (1st all-time)
  • 206 career games started (1st all-time)
  • 1448 career innings pitched (1st all-time)
  • 178 career complete games (2nd all-time)
  • 11.80 career strikeouts per 7 innings (3rd all-time)
  • .848 career win percentage
  • 16 career saves (tied-10th all-time)
  • 23 career NCAA Division I no-hitters (2nd all-time)
  • 6 career NCAA Division I perfect games (2nd all-time)

Awards


  • 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
  • 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[9]
  • 2007 Women's Sports Foundation Sportsman of the Year
  • 2007 Roy F. Kramer SEC Female Athlete of the Year

2008 Beijing Summer Olympics

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.

Post-college career

On February 2, 2009, Abbott announced her signing with Toyota Motor Corporation on a six-month contract to play professional softball in Japan.

Abbott debuted in the NPF on August 2, 2007 by striking out a career best 18 batters in a 10-inning victory against the Rockford Thunder.[10] She later matched that total with another personal and league best in 7-innings vs. the Akron Racers on June 24, 2011.[11] Abbott also had a career best shutout streak of at least 67.0 innings, 111 strikeouts, 19 hits and 12 walks for a 0.46 WHIP from July 1-August 11, 2015.[12]

On July 23, 2015, Abbott pitched her second perfect game as a member of the Chicago Bandits, beating the Dallas Charge, 10–0.[13]

On August 3, 2015, Abbott pitched a no-hitter against the Pennsylvania Rebellion, winning 3–0. The pursuit of a perfect game ended in the seventh inning, on a Chicago error and later a walk.[14] In May 2016, the Scrap Yard Dawgs, a National Pro Fastpitch team, signed Abbott to a six-year contract, believed to be worth $1 million.[15] Abbott began a career best 18 consecutive games win streak from June 13-August 10, accumulating 10 earned runs, 59 hits, 27 walks and 159 strikeouts for a 0.59 ERA and 0.73 WHIP. That season she would become the second pitcher to win 100 games.

For her career, Abbott won four NPF titles, being named MVP in all those championships. She was also a runner-up in 2009 and 2013. She threw 26.0 innings and gave up 4 runs in the combined games, starting all four and completing all but the 2007 game.[16][17][18][19] For her career she is the most decorated pitcher in the league history with five Pitcher of The Year awards and 8 All-NPF Team selections. Currently, she also holds the career wins and strikeouts crowns (the second pitcher to achieve each milestone and the only to have both) along with the no-hitters (6), shutouts record (also the only pitcher to cross the 40 and 50 total). She also ranks top-10 in ERA, WHIP, innings and strikeout ratio (10.1).

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
2020 6 0 7 4 1 1 1 31.2 5 0 0 2 68 0.00 0.22
TOTALS 19 1 29 16 5 3 1 107.2 40 11 9 13 193 0.59 0.49

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

National Pro Fastpitch
YEAR NPF Team[20] W L GP GS CG Sh SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA WHIP
2007 Washington Glory 2 0 — 3 2 — 2 23.2 19 10 5 2 37 1.51 0.90
2009 USSSA Pride 2 3 — 6 5 — 0 45.1 30 15 10 9 69 1.55 0.86
2010 Tennessee Diamonds 7 11 19 17 17 3 0 127.1 89 30 19 13 161 1.04 0.80
2011 Chicago Bandits 15 4 22 14 12 5 1 125.0 58 25 20 17 170 1.12 0.60
2012 Chicago Bandits 16 3 26 17 15 7 4 140.0 72 25 21 37 209 1.05 0.78
2013 Chicago Bandits 18 5 25 18 17 9 1 142.2 99 25 21 25 207 1.03 0.87
2014 Chicago Bandits 10 7 20 — — 4 3 105.2 62 24 16 30 144 1.06 0.87
2015 Chicago Bandits 16 1 20 15 15 13 2 112.1 39 6 5 26 175 0.31 0.58
2016 Scrap Yard Dawgs 19 3 26 20 13 8 3 142.2 81 23 20 33 185 0.98 0.80
2017 Scrap Yard Dawgs 21 4 26 19 16 7 2 144.0 68 27 24 36 269 1.16 0.72
TOTALS 126 41 +184 +129 +112 56 18 1108.2 617 210 161 228 1626 1.01 0.76

References
  1. "Monica Abbott". Utsports.com. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  2. Murphy, Melissa (October 15, 2007). "Golfer Lorena Ochoa, softball star Monica Abbott win Sportswomen of the Year awards from WSF". USATODAY.com. Gannett Co. Inc. Retrieved January 28, 2010.
  3. "This Is Us Athletes". Thisisussoftball.com. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  4. "Monica Abbott". Teamusa.org. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  5. "History & Records" (PDF). Amazonaws.com. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  6. "2020 Softball Record Book" (PDF). Espncdn.com. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  7. "Division I Softball Records" (PDF). Ncaa.org. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  8. "Sportswoman of the Year Award". Women's Sports Foundation. Archived from the original on July 22, 2009. Retrieved August 3, 2009.
  9. "Softball". CWSA. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
  10. "Washington, Abbott Knock Off Osterman, Thunder". Web.archive.org. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  11. "Bandits' Monica Abbott Strikes Out 18". Web.archive.org. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  12. "Monica Abbott Career & Season Stats". Stats.805stats.com. Retrieved June 29, 2020.CS1 maint: location (link)
  13. NPF (July 24, 2015). "Bandits Rout Charge Behind Abbott's Perfect Game". SportsPageMagazine.com. Archived from the original on September 10, 2015. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  14. "Bandits Get Another No-Hitter From Monica Abbott". Journal & Topics Newspapers Online. August 4, 2015. Archived from the original on February 11, 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
  15. Hays, Graham (May 5, 2016). "Monica Abbott Wants Change After Signing $1 Million Contract with NPF Expansion Team". ESPNW.com. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  16. "Glory Win Championship Game Over Thunder 3-1Abbott Named Series MVP". Web.archive.org. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  17. "Bandits Make Quick Work Of Pride - Capture Cowles Cup". Web.archive.org. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  18. "Bandits Sweep Series to Win NPF Championship". Profastpitch.com. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  19. "Scrap Yard Dawgs Claim First Cowles Cup". Profastpitch.com. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  20. "Historical Rosters". profastpitch.com. Archived from the original on June 9, 2015. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
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