KNOXVILLE — Tennessee softball legend Monica Abbott will compete at her second Olympic Games for Team USA next week in Tokyo, Japan, as softball returns to the Olympic program for the first time since 2008. The six-team tournament spans from July 20-27 at Fukushima Azuma Stadium and Yokohama Stadium.

The former Lady Vol from Salinas, California, is one of three pitchers on the 15-player United States national team roster. The squad will look to claim Team USA's fourth gold medal and fifth medal overall in the sport of softball. The world No. 1-ranked Americans join No. 2 Japan, No. 3 Canada, No. 5 Mexico, No. 8 Australia and No. 9 Italy as the six countries represented at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic softball competition.

Abbott is one of two players on the U.S. national team with previous Olympic experience and was the youngest member of the 2008 squad that earned silver in Beijing. She is also a three-time WBSC world champion, helping Team USA claim gold medals in 2006, 2010 and 2018. At the 2018 Women's Softball World Championship, Abbott had a 1.62 ERA across 26 innings pitched and led the tournament with a 5-0 record to help the United States secure its berth to the Olympic Games.

One of the most decorated players in the history of college softball, Abbott led the Lady Vols to three consecutive Women's College World Series appearances (2005-07), with a runner-up finish in 2007. She threw an astonishing 23 no-hitters and six perfect games during her Tennessee career and finished her four-year tenure on Rocky Top as the NCAA's career leader in victories (189), strikeouts (2,440), shutouts (112) and appearances (253).

TOURNAMENT FORMAT: The Olympic softball competition will feature a single round-robin of the six teams, in which each team will play one game against each other for a total of 15 games overall. The top two teams in the standings will advance to the gold medal game, while the third- and fourth-placed teams will advance to the bronze medal game.

SCHEDULE: Team USA will begin its push for a fourth Olympic title in softball on Tuesday, July 20 against Italy at 11 p.m. ET. The tournament will conclude with the gold medal game on Tuesday, July 27 at 7 a.m. ET.

Team USA's full Olympic slate, including TV designations and live stream links can be found here.