Abbey Cheek
USSSA Pride
Third baseman
Born: (1997-03-18) March 18, 1997 (age 26)
Inman, South Carolina
Teams
Career highlights and awards
  • NFCA Player of the Year (2019)
  • SEC Player of the Year (2019)
  • NCAA 1st Team All-American (2019)
  • NPF Rookie of the Year (2019)
  • All-NPF Team (2019)

Abbey Cheek (born March 18, 1997) is an American softball player for the USSSA Florida Pride of the Women's Professional Fastpitch League (WPF) and an Assistant softball coach at Bethune-Cookman University.

Early life

Cheek attended Chapman High School in Inman, South Carolina.[1]

Playing career

College

Cheek attended the University of Kentucky where she played for the Kentucky Wildcats softball team.[2] She is Kentucky softball's career leader in home runs.[3][4][5][6] Cheek led the Wildcats to four consecutive NCAA Division I softball tournament appearances from 2016 to 2019, including three appearances in the Super Regionals from 2017 to 2019.[7] During her senior season, she ranked second nationally with 64 walks and was third with a .602 on-base percentage and .908 slugging percentage. As the Wildcats’ first-ever SEC Player of the Year, Cheek hit .428 with 13 doubles, 20 long balls, 53 RBI, 54 runs scored and posted an OPS of 1.536. Following the season she was named NFCA National Player of the Year.[8]

Professional

Cheek was drafted by the Chicago Bandits of National Pro Fastpitch in the third round of the 2019 NPF Draft.[9] During the 2019 season, Cheek was named the NPF Rookie of the Year.[10]

References

  1. ^ Boynton, Eric (May 7, 2019). "Chapman alum Abbey Cheek wins SEC softball honor". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. Archived from the original on May 23, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  2. ^ "UK's Abbey Cheek Named SEC Player of the Year". kysportsstyle.com. May 7, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  3. ^ Walker, Alex (April 5, 2019). "UK's Abbey Cheek named Athlete of the Week". WKYT. Archived from the original on May 23, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  4. ^ "Kentucky has SEC Softball Player of the Year for first time in program history". Lexington Herald-Leader. May 7, 2019. Archived from the original on May 23, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  5. ^ Peck, Jared (May 16, 2019). "'A whole 'nother level.' Power player at heart of Kentucky softball's run to NCAAs". Lexington Herald-Leader. Archived from the original on May 23, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  6. ^ Sullivan, Josh (April 24, 2019). "A Player of the Year nod and a three-run homer. It was a big day for UK softball star". Lexington Herald-Leader. Archived from the original on May 23, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  7. ^ Peck, Jared (February 7, 2019). "Talent, experience and one of nation's best players has Kentucky thinking softball world series". Lexington Herald-Leader. Archived from the original on May 23, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  8. ^ "Kentucky's Cheek garners 2019 Schutt Sports / NFCA Division I National Player of the Year honors". nfca.org. June 6, 2019. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
  9. ^ Kennedy, Bryan (April 16, 2019). "Abbey Cheek and Katie Reed taken by Bandits in 2019 NPF draft". WTVQ. Archived from the original on April 16, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  10. ^ "NPF Awards Banquet Kicks Off 2019 Championship Series". profastpitch.com. August 14, 2019. Archived from the original on August 17, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019.((cite web)): CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

External links


NFCA National Player of the Year
Southeastern Conference Softball Player of the Year
Categories