Abby Knight '21 Recruiting Profile

    Hello!  I am a 5'8" middle infielder from Bloomington, Illinois and will graduate in 2021.  I have played on highly competitive travel softball teams for 8 years and have loved every minute of it.  During these years, my usual position in the batting order is lead off and while I have the most experience at shortstop, I also enjoy second base.  During my freshman year of high school, I was captain of the freshman volleyball team and also the starting shortstop and lead off hitter for our varsity team at University High School.  We won both the 3A Regional and Sectional Championships and I was selected first team All-Conference for our and I was also 3rd Team All-State.  I learned a lot during my freshman season and it has made me want to work even harder to achieve my goal of playing softball in college.

     I am from a very athletic family.  My mom was a nationally ranked Division 1 tennis player while at Illinois State University.  My dad played basketball and golf at Illinois Wesleyan University where his basketball team finished 3rd in the NCAA tournament.  My uncle played basketball, was D3 Player of the Year, won a NCAA championship and played professionally in Europe for 8 years.  They talk to me all of the time about what it takes to compete and be successful physically and mentally at a high level and how important it is to be a good teammate, listener and to be coachable.  They also say that having a good work ethic and time management skills are also very important.  My mom tells me all the time that, "hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard".

     I have very good grades with a 3.97/4 GPA and I work hard in the classroom as well as on the field both in season and out of season.  I am looking for a university where I can succeed academically and make an immediate impact athletically as I am very competitive and love to play.  Ideally, I would like to attend a small-to-medium sized school and stay within a few hours from home, but would be willing to travel further for the right opportunity.  Thank you for reading this!  It has been a goal of mine for a long time to play college softball.  I am very excited to find the right opportunity to play!

Thanks,

Abby Knight