Tammy Kay Williams (born June 21, 1987) is an American, former collegiate four-time

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

, four-time professional All-Star

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

player and coach. She played her natural position at

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

from 2006 to 2009 at Northwestern, as well as the

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

and

Chicago Bandits The Chicago Bandits were a women's professional softball team based in Rosemont, Illinois. Since the 2005 season, they have played as a member of National Pro Fastpitch (NPF). The Bandits won the 2008 NPF championship, defeating the Washington ...

softball team. She owns Northwestern' softball team all-time career records in

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

and

total bases In baseball statistics, total bases is the number of bases a player gains with hit (baseball), hits. It is a weighted sum with values of 1 for a single (baseball), single, 2 for a double (baseball), double, 3 for a triple (baseball), triple and 4 ...

. She helped lead the Wildcats to a national runner up finish in the

2006 Women's College World Series The 2006 NCAA Division I softball tournament was the twenty-fifth annual tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA women's collegiate softball. Held during May and June 2006, sixty-four Division I college softball teams contested th ...

. Williams was drafted tenth overall by the

in the 2009 NPF Draft, winning two Cowles Cup championships in 2011 and 2015. She later worked as a sports broadcaster for the Big Ten and an assistant softball coach at

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois, with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by ...

Playing career

College career

Williams attended

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

, majoring in human development and psychological services with a minor in business institutions. She kicked off her career with freshman honors from both the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

and the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. She was named a Third Team

, All-Big Ten and

Big Ten Freshman of the Year Coaches and media of the Big Ten Conference award the following individual honors at the end of each football season. In addition, the ''Chicago Tribune'' awards the Chicago Tribune Silver Football to the most valuable football player of the confer ...

. Williams broke the school season record with her 14

and positioned herself within the top-5 all-time for hits and

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

s, where she currently remains. On April 23, 2006, she hit a career high 4 hits vs. the Minnesota Gophers Katie Dalen. The Wildcats made it into the

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States and is held annually in Oklahoma City, OK. The event is held at Devon Park (stadium), Devon Park loca ...

as the No. 4 seed and proceeded to sweep the competition in their first three games. Williams began her World Series career by going 4/6 off the

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the Na ...

on June 1. In the semifinals against the No. 1 seeded

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

, Williams hit an extra-inning home run to score the eventual winning run and send Northwestern into their first final vs. the

Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Divis ...

. The Wildcats suffered back-to-back shutouts by

Alicia Hollowell Alicia Kay Hollowell-Dunn (born February 29, 1984) is an American former collegiate four-time All-American, retired professional softball pitcher, and assistant coach. She played college softball at Arizona Wildcats softball from 2003 to 2006, c ...

on June 5 and 6. Williams went 2/4 in the finale and was named to the All-Tournament Team hitting .333 with an RBI, HR and a

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

over .450%. For her sophomore year, Williams earned a First Team

citation and repeated with

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

honors. She broke the hits and total bases records while tanking top-5 in batting average, RBIs, home runs, doubles and slugging percentage. She currently still leads season records for her 91 hits and 155 total bases. Beginning February 25 and ending April 8, 2007, Williams achieved a school record 24 consecutive game hit streak. She hit .500 (43/86) and produced 24 RBIs, 7 home runs, 8 doubles, 7 walks and a .837% slugging. Her team made it back to the WCWS and once again Williams contributed by earning All-Tournament status hitting .272 with 4 RBIs on two home runs and a slugging of over .800%. They were eventually eliminated by National Collegiate Player of The Year

Monica Abbott Monica Cecilia Abbott (born July 28, 1985) is a retired American professional softball player. Abbott was an All-American pitcher for the Tennessee Lady Volunteers in college before starting a professional career in the NPF and in the Japan S ...

and the

Tennessee Lady Vols The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Colleg ...

on June 3. Williams earned her second First Team

citation as well as being named Big Ten Player of the Year to go along with all-conference honors. Williams continued her trend of record breaking by posting an all-time season best batting average and on-base percentage. She ranked top-10 in hits and slugging in addition. On February 17, 2008, Williams was named National Fastpitch Coaches Association "Player of The Week" for hitting .785 (11/14) with two RBIs, a home run, a double and slugging an 1.071%. The next month, Williams drove in a career and school and conference best 8 RBIs vs. the Minnesota Gophers combined duo of Katie Dalen and Briana Hassett on March 8. She was a perfect 3/3 at the plate and two of her hits were home runs in the 17-8 victory. For a final season, Williams earned 2009 all-season honors and her second Big Ten Player of the Year award. She broke her own batting average record with a career best .448 total and posted top-5 records in both slugging and on-base percentages. The Wildcat would have a career March month; for the week of March 8, Williams was again named "Player of The Week" by the NFCA; she hit .545 (6/11), drove in two runs on 5 extra base hits to slug an imposing 1.363%. On March 22 through April 1, she had 5 consecutive game home run streak (an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

record). In one of the games she would hit her 50th career home run off Kimi Wong of the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Penn State Lady Lions basketball, Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot ...

on March 29. Williams owned the

Northwestern Wildcats The Northwestern Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent Northwestern University, located in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and one of two private universities in the conference, the other ...

career records for average, home runs, runs, hits, total bases and slugging, and still does for average, homers, hits and total bases. She ranks top-5 in all others. She is a

top-10 player in virtually all the same offense categories. She started every game at shortstop during her 4-year career with the Wildcats. Williams was also named a finalist for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award following the 2009 season.

Professional career

Williams was drafted in the second round by the

of the

National Pro Fastpitch National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), formerly the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL), was a professional women's softball league in the United States. The teams battled for the Cowles Cup. The WPSL was founded in 1997 and folded in 2001; the NPF revive ...

softball league. Following a rookie season in which she posted a .340 batting average, 6 home runs, 20 RBIs, 20 runs and a .557 slugging percentage, Williams was named "Rookie of the Year" and "Defensive Player of the Year". In 2011, Williams returned from a role with

and hit .299 for the year. The Bandits made it into the Cowles Cup Championship and won their first title; Williams went 1/4 vs. pitchers Jordan Taylor, Sarah Pauly and

Danielle Lawrie Danielle Elaine Lawrie (born April 11, 1987) is a Canadian, former collegiate All-American, medal-winning Olympian, professional All-Star softball pitcher and current sports commentator. Lawrie played college softball at Washington, in which s ...

of the

USSSA Pride The USSSA Pride is a professional softball team based in Viera, Florida, and a former member of Women's Professional Fastpitch (WPF). Founded in 2009, they previously played in National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) from 2009 to 2019. They play their home ...

. The Bandits made a return trip to the finals in 2012, though Williams was shut out at the plate, the team won 2–1 on August 25. Williams won her third Cowles Cup Championship and scored the sole winning run on August 18, 2015.

Coaching career

On July 21, 2009, Williams was named an assistant coach at

. On January 11, 2010, she was named to the 2010 USA women's national softball team.

Statistics

References

External links

*
Tammy Williams: Northwestern Player BioTammy Williams: USA Softball Player Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Tammy 1987 births Living people American softball coaches Northwestern Wildcats softball players Chicago Bandits players Northern Illinois Huskies softball coaches People from Osceola, Missouri Softball players from Missouri