Monica Abbott

Monica Abbott is a softball player 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.

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 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. On July 23, 2015, Abbott pitched her second perfect game as a member of the Chicago Bandits, beating the Dallas Charge, 10–0.[3]

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. 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.

She was a World Championship Gold Medalist in 2006, 2010, and 2018. She was a 2019 Pan American Games Gold Medalist.

Additionally, she founded the Monica Abbott Scholarship, which grants a scholarship to multi-sport female athletes that demonstrate leadership in the classroom and on the field.