Monica Abbott pitched for the softball team from 2004 to 2008. She pitched a no-hitter in her college debut and followed it with a second no-hitter in her second appearance on the mound. She was the first softball pitcher in NCAA Division I history to record five hundred strikeouts in all four years of her collegiate career. She had a UT career record of 189-34 and 2,440 strikeouts.
Abbott was a Louisville Slugger/NFCA First Team All-American in each of her four years as a Lady Vol. During her senior season, she set the record for 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 nation’s Top Collegiate Softball Player 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. She was a member of the United States softball team at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and won a silver medal.
Her jersey, Number 7, was retired March 23, 2013—the first softball player’s jersey to be retired.