AUSL

Sara Groenewegen

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities '17

Hometown: White Rock, British Columbia

2020 Olympic bronze medalist with Team Canada

Playing for Morgan's Message

Personal: Most memorable sports thrill was winning her Canadian national championship game in the bottom of the seventh inning … diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of nine  … uncle, Leo, played 17 years in the Canadian Football League … sister, Marina, played softball at Bradley in 2013 and 2014 after transferring from Southern Idaho … hobbies include going to coffee shops, cooking and being in nature … began playing softball at the age of five. 

2022 Championship Season: Second-year performer who tallied 746 leaderboard points … appeared in eight games with two starts in the circle … ranked third in the league with 3.56 earned run average over 19.2 innings … accumulated 13 strikeouts, including season-high four against Team McCleney in Week Five … also had three strikeouts in season finale against Team Mulipola … threw season-high 4.0 innings three times. 


2021 Championship Season: Accumulated 1,032 leaderboard points in Athletes Unlimited debut … tied for the league lead with 13 appearances in the circle, including three starts … fashioned 3-5 record … ranked fourth in the league with 32.0 innings … ninth in the circuit with 16 strikeouts … hit by a pitch twice, which was tied for third in the league. 


International Experience: Member of the Canadian National Team since 2013 when she was 17 years old … led Team Canada to Bronze medal at 2020 Tokyo Olympics … went 2-for-6 at the plate in five games with a double … also posted a 1-0 record in five appearances in the circle, striking out 14 hitters in 13.1 innings … tallied four strikeouts in 2.0 innings against Team USA … earned win in Bronze Medal Game against Team Mexico, throwing 3.0 shutout innings in 3-2 victory … led Team Canada to Gold medal at 2015 Pan American Games, which marked Canada’s first Gold medal in 32 years … also became youngest starting pitcher in Team Canada history to earn a Gold medal … became first Team Canada pitcher to throw a perfect game on Aug. 5, 2019, against Venezuela at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.  


Other Professional Experience: No. 2 overall selection in the 2017 NPF Draft by the Akron Racers … garnered All-NPF honors in 2019 after accumulating a 6-4 record with three saves and a 1.52 earned run average … made 17 appearances, including 11 starts, with 64 strikeouts. 

At Minnesota: Four-year letter winner for the Golden Gophers who appeared in 233 games from 2014-17 … first player in program history to earn NFCA All-America honors three times, including a pair of First-Team commendations in 2016 and 2017 … two-time selection as Big Ten Conference Pitcher of the Year (2014, 2017) … named 2015 Big Ten Player of the Year in addition to 2014 Big Ten Freshman of the Year … First-Team Senior CLASS Award All-America pick in 2017 … four-time NFCA All-Region and First-Team All-Big Ten honoree … member of 2017 Big Ten All-Defensive Team … tabbed Most Outstanding Player at 2017 Big Ten Tournament … Third-Team CoSIDA Academic All-America pick in 2017 … compiled .305 career batting average with 36 home runs and 157 runs batted in … also tallied 196 hits, including 37 doubles with two triples, while scoring 99 runs … made 152 appearances in the circle, including 125 starts … fashioned 107-21 record as a pitcher with eight saves and a 1.58 earned run average … tallied school-record 1,214 strikeouts in 797.0 innings with 82 complete games and 31 shutouts … ranks fourth in Minnesota history in career pitching appearances … also stands fifth in career complete games … one of two pitchers in school history with 100 or more career victories … owns three of the top five single-season win totals as a pitcher in Golden Gopher history … posted 0.63 earned run average as a senior, the second-best mark in Minnesota annals … ranks second on school’s single-season list with 379 strikeouts during sophomore season … also threw 336 strikeouts as a junior to stand fourth on the list … threw eight career no-hitters, including a perfect game against Florida Atlantic on Mar. 12, 2016 … holds school single-game record with 19 strikeouts against Purdue on May 2, 2015.

Headshot of Sara Groenewegen

Career Stats

YEAR
W-L
ERA
G
GS
IP
H
SO
BB
ER
HR
B/AVG
HP
CG
SHO
SV
B
S
WP
2022 Championship*
0-0
3.56
8
-
19.2
26
13
7
10
5
.310
1
-
-
-
140
217
2
2021 Championship*
3-5
4.59
13
-
32.0
40
16
14
21
6
.296
2
-
-
-
214
363
4
Career Totals
3-5
4.20
21
-
51.2
66
29
21
31
11
.301
3
-
-
-
354
580
6

*The AUSL All-Star Cup was known as the Championship season through 2024.

Game Log

DATE
HOME TEAM
AWAY TEAM
W-L
ERA
G
IP
H
SO
BB
ER
HR
B/AVG
HP
CG
SHO
SV
B
S
WP
8/28/2022
Team MulipolaTeam Chidester
0-0
8.75
1
4.0
7
3
2
5
2
.350
1
-
-
-
27
52
-
8/27/2022
Team ChidesterTeam McCleney
0-0
0.00
1
3.0
1
4
-
-
-
.100
-
-
-
-
11
26
-
8/20/2022
Team MulipolaTeam Jaquish
0-0
0.00
1
1.0
1
1
2
-
-
.250
-
-
-
-
12
15
-
8/19/2022
Team McCleneyTeam Jaquish
0-0
0.00
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
8/14/2022
Team JaquishTeam Chidester
0-0
8.40
1
1.2
4
1
-
2
-
.444
-
-
-
-
12
23
-
8/13/2022
Team McCleneyTeam Chidester
0-0
14.00
1
1.0
3
-
1
2
1
.500
-
-
-
-
17
15
-
8/12/2022
Team ChidesterTeam Mulipola
0-0
1.75
1
4.0
4
1
2
1
1
.267
-
-
-
-
29
35
1
8/7/2022
Team EberleTeam Jaquish
0-0
0.00
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
8/6/2022
Team JaquishTeam Harshman
0-0
0.00
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
8/5/2022
Team JaquishTeam Mulipola
0-0
0.00
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
7/31/2022
Team OcasioTeam Chidester
0-0
0.00
1
4.0
6
1
-
-
1
.353
-
-
-
-
29
43
1
7/29/2022
Team ZerkleTeam Ocasio
0-0
0.00
1
1.0
-
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
3
8
-

*The AUSL All-Star Cup was known as the Championship season through 2024.

Awards & Honors

2020 Olympic bronze medalist with Team Canada

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“I wouldn’t want to be from anywhere else.”

Coming Home featuring @bamasb’s Montana Fouts premieres this Saturday at 3pm ET on the AUSL YouTube channel 📺

@mfouts14 x @ausl_talons
Somethin’ about that Bandits x Longhorn connection 🤠🤘🏼

📺 ESPNU
@sydsyd2 came to PLAY! 🔥🔥🔥

📺 ESPNU
Montana Fouts. Alabama Legend. AUSL Champion.

Coming Home featuring Montana Fouts premieres on Saturday, August 23rd at 3pm ET on the AUSL YouTube channel 📺
defense was on another level last night 🤯

@rawlingssb
HAVE A DAY!!!! Kayla Kowalik was just a double shy of the cycle yesterday 😳👏

1st Inning | Solo Home Run to RF
3rd Inning | Single to LF
7th Inning | Triple to LF
@mzerkleee no fly zone ❌

📺 ESPN2
CAPTAIN KOWALIK FOR A REASON 💣

Kowalik gives her team an early 1-0 lead!

📺 ESPN2
the Top-10 on the leaderboard heading into Series 2 of the AUSL All-Star Cup 🌟
RED, WHITE, BLUE, AND GOLD!!!!! 🥇

congratulations to @usasoftball on taking home gold at The World Games 2025! 🥎 

📸 Photo Credit to USA Softball
who is ready for Series 2?! 🙋‍♀️

action starts Tuesday in Rosemont. grab your tickets today at theausl.com/schedule! 🎟️
behind the scenes look at AUSL All-Star Cup’s Media Day 🤩

thank you @sephora for getting our athletes camera ready in the Glam Suite 💅
the perfect day doesn’t exi—

🥎+🐶+☀️= 🥰link in our bio
a pretty good week for the Talons if you ask us 💅🏆

@sephora surprised all of the AUSL athletes with gift bags in their lockers during the final week of the regular season. after the surprise, the Talons went on to win the first-ever AUSL Championship presented by Sephora 🍾
while there are a lot of similarities between baseball and softball, there are some big differences too ⚾️🥎

(should our coaches start suiting up for games too?)
playing for something more 🧡

at the end of the season, Athletes Unlimited, powered by Give Lively and the Give Lively Foundation, makes a grant equal to 100% of the athlete’s win bonus to the non-profit of the athlete’s choice as part of the Athlete Causes Program.
on base? likely place for them to be 🤭

these five led the way in OBP during the AUSL Regular Season! 💥
ballin’ 🤑
only packing the important things, obviously! 

@travelguard
happy wednesday to those who celebrate 🏖️