In her senior season with the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers softball team, Abbott won the 2007 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and was named the 2006-2007 Roy F. Kramer SEC Female Athlete of the Year. She also won the prestigious Honda Award for Softball after registering a national-best 50-5 overall record with a 0.68 ERA and 29 shutouts to go along with a NCAA Division I single-season record 724 strikeouts during her senior season. Abbott led her team to the 2007 Women's College World Series, a runner-up national finish, and the 2007 Southeastern Conference regular-season title. She ended the 2007 season having set new NCAA Division I career records for wins (189), strikeouts (2,440), shutouts (112), appearances (253) and innings pitched (1448.0). Abbott is also the Lady Vols' first four-time NFCA First-Team Softball All-American, as well as being a three-time Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year winner and four-time All-SEC pick.

“I would like to thank the Women’s Sports Foundation for this recognition. To even be in this category with such great athletes is an honor,” said Abbott. “This past year at Tennessee has been such a blessing as well as my four years spent there. Between my season last year at Tennessee and this summer with Team USA, I have really been able to develop as a player. I look forward to many great seasons.”

As a member of the U.S. national team, she found similar success this past summer. Throughout the month of July, which saw Team USA play in three different countries with three gold medals, Abbott led the way for the pitching staff. She posted a team-best 6-0 record in seven appearances. She allowed only one run off 13 hits in 26.2 innings pitched. Abbott was third on the team with 46 strikeouts and allowed no extra base hits. She was also the only pitcher on the staff who allowed no walks during her time in the circle. Abbott closed out national team play at the Pan Am Games in Brazil, hurling a two-hit shutout with eight strikeouts over five innings against Canada to secure the gold for Team USA, the program’s sixth-consecutive Pan American gold medal.

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