Abbey Cheek Becomes Fourth Kentucky Softball NFCA All-American
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Behind the most prolific offensive season in Kentucky Softball history, senior third baseman Abbey Cheek was named the fourth player in UK history to be named a National Fastpitch Coaches’ Association All-American on Wednesday afternoon. Cheek was a unanimous selection to the first team, the first person to achieve that in program history.
Cheek now slides her name into the category of Molly Johnson-Belcher (2009), Kelsey Nunley (2016) and Katie Reed (2017) as the four NFCA All-American’s in program history.
The Inman, S.C., native’s resume was filled to the brim this season, headlined by becoming the first Kentucky player ever to win the Southeastern Conference’s Player of the Year award. She was voted by the 13 head coaches as a member of the First Team All-SEC, and to the All-SEC Defensive Team for third base, as well.
She was recognized for her play not only in the SEC, but nationally as well. Cheek made it into the final 10 for the coveted USA Softball National Player of the Year, and was voted as a CoSIDA Adcademic All-District Team member for the first time in her career.
Cheek saw her dreams come to fruition in April, as she was selected No. 14 overall by the Chicago Bandits in the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) Draft.
The numbers Cheek put up on the season offensively were nothing short of mind-boggling. She broke the career record for home runs against Missouri on March 23 and ended up beating the record by 13. She pummeled the career RBI record, surpassing it by 40 and also has now scored the most runs in program history with 163 in her career, 11 more than the previous record.
In 2019 alone, Cheek was top-three for single-season marks in batting average (3rd, .428), home runs (2nd, 20), runs score (2nd, 54), total bases (1st, 138), on-base percentage (1st, .602), slugging (1st, .902) and walks (1st, 64).
2019 NFCA First Team All-Americans
P – Giselle “G” Juarez (Oklahoma)
P – Amber Fiser (Minnesota)
P – Gabbie Plain (Washington)
C – Dejah Mulipola (Arizona)
1B – Kayla Konwent (Wisconsin)
2B – Caleigh Clifton (Oklahoma)
3B – Abbey Cheek (Kentucky)
SS – Sis Bates (Washington)
OF – Amanda Lorenz (Florida)
OF – Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza (Arizona)
OF – Morgan Howe (Arizona State)
UTL (P) – Rachel Garcia (UCLA)
UTL (Non-Pitcher) – Cait Brooks (Notre Dame)
At-Large (P) – Nicole Newman (Drake)
At-Large (3B) – Sydney Sherrill (Florida State)
At-Large (P) – Taylor McQuillin (Arizona)
At-Large (OF) – Kylan Becker (Ole Miss)
At-Large (3B) – Sydney Romero (Oklahoma)
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