Monica Cecilia Abbott (born July 28, 1985) is an American athlete who 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 1992). She is a pitcher for the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers softball team, majoring in Communication Studies. During her senior season, she became the NCAA Division I Softball career wins leader and moved into 2nd place in the career strikeouts list.
2004: Freshman year
One of the most sought-after high school pitchers in recent memory, Abbott got her college career off to a flying start, firing a no-hitter in her college debut and notched 13 strikeouts in an 8-0 run-rule of Saint Mary's.
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 10 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.
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 record for K in a season (478) and [Cat Osterman]]'s 2004 freshman record total of 554, finishing 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 IP. 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 44 wins, she led the country and broke her own school record for single season wins (50 - tied for the second highest mark in history), and finished tops in the nation in K'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 destroyed her 2004 school record total of 24, was 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 Tourney play. She followed that up with another scoreless streak of 43.3 innings from the opening frame on May 15 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 12 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 11 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' Cat 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 14th, Abbott struck out 10 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)...
On April 11, she won her 120th (2-0) and 121st (5-2) games in a doubleheader against Austin Peay, 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 significatly, 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 K's in 17 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 15 innings of work in NCAA Regional No. 4, but posted a 2-0 record anyway with 26 K'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 11. Later, Abbott K'ed 15 in a loss to Northwestern and 10 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, 17 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 K's 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 19 game winning streak before losing her first game to the University of Mississippi on March 14th (pitching the second game of a doubleheader after winning the first on a 1-hit, 17 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 4th 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 11th. The day before, Abbott had set her personal best with 22 strikeouts in a 10-inning, 1-hit shutout of Florida.
On March 21st, Abbott pitched her 216th career game, breaking Courtney Blades' career record set in 2000.
On March 24th, Abbott notched her 100th career 10+ strikeout performance vs. the University of Arkansas.
On March 25th, Abbott recorded her 100th career shutout with a one-hit 14-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 (vs Western Kentucky). She went on the record 14 strikeouts for the game, and struck out another four in 2 innings of relief in the second game of the doubleheader.
As the 2007 season progressed, Abbott's tremendous win, strikeout and shutout pace (26 wins, 17 shutouts and 372 strikeouts in her first 30 appearances/23 games started) put her on pace to challenge both the single season strikeout record and Division I season wins record - both held by Southern Miss great Courtney Blades, with 52 wins and 663 strikeouts, as well as the season shutout record of 36.
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
- 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 SEC Pitcher of the Year
- 2006 Women's College World Series First Team
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 | 30 | 1 | 35 | 27 | 24 | 19 | 3 | 194.1 | 53 | 12 | 11 | 24 | 428 | 0.40 |
| TOTALS | 169 | 30 | 225 | 181 | 157 | 102 | 14 | 1284.0 | 566 | 185 | 139 | 174 | 2144 | 0.974 |
Athletic accomplishments
- 2,144 career NCAA Division I strikeouts (2nd all-time; 121 behind leader Cat Osterman)
- 169 career NCAA Division I wins (1st alltime)
- .849 career win percentage (11th alltime)
- 102 career shutouts (1st alltime)
- 225 career games pitched (1st alltime)
- 181 career games started (4th alltime; 12 behind leader Debbie Nichols)
- 1286 career innings pitched (3rd alltime; 128.2 behind leader Rhonda Wheatley)
- 157 career complete games (2nd alltime; 25 behind leader Debbie Nichols)
- 20 career NCAA Division I no-hitters
- 5 career NCAA Division I perfect games