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
2
-
-
-
-
2
2021 Championship*
3-5
4.59
13
-
32.0
40
16
14
21
6
.296
2
1
-
-
159
274
4
Career Totals
3-5
4.20
21
-
51.2
66
29
21
31
11
.301
3
3
-
-
159
274
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
-
-
-
-
-
-
8/27/2022
Team ChidesterTeam McCleney
0-0
0.00
1
3.0
1
4
-
-
-
.100
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
8/20/2022
Team MulipolaTeam Jaquish
0-0
0.00
1
1.0
1
1
2
-
-
.250
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
8/13/2022
Team McCleneyTeam Chidester
0-0
14.00
1
1.0
3
-
1
2
1
.500
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
8/12/2022
Team ChidesterTeam Mulipola
0-0
1.75
1
4.0
4
1
2
1
1
.267
-
1
-
-
-
-
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
-
1
-
-
-
-
1
7/29/2022
Team ZerkleTeam Ocasio
0-0
0.00
1
1.0
-
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

*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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dear journal, we love this nest. see you soon, SLC! xoxo, ausl
Last year, Karlyn Pickens launched into the sports stratosphere when she set the record for the fastest pitch in NCAA softball history at 79.4 mph 🔥

Yesterday, it was announced she signed the first-ever NIL deal with the AUSL ✍️
reminder that pro softball players were once just kids playing the game they love 🥹💙
BREAKING NEWS: Karlyn Pickens has signed the first-ever NIL deal with the AUSL ✍️

A consensus first-team All-American in 2024 and 2025 and the two-time defending SEC Pitcher of the Year, Pickens recorded the fastest pitch in NCAA history last season at 79.4 MPH (equivalent to a 111.7 MPH pitch in MLB).
we want to take a moment to celebrate how far we’ve come and look forward to where we are going 💙

#NGWSD
NCAA 👉 AUSL = 7 months of softball on TV 📺
dear journal, this trip was fire. be back so soon! love, ausl
🙂‍↔️🤚
dear journal, Texas was electric. we can’t wait for the season! xoxo, ausl
Had a ball last night with the @houstonrockets and our close personal friend @easymoneysniper 🥎🤝🏀
dear journal, portland rocks. be back soon! xoxo, ausl
our team's homes have been unveiled 🏠👇

Chicago Bandits 🤠
Carolina Blaze 🔥
Portland Cascade 🏔️
OKC Spark ⚡️
Utah Talons 🦅
Texas Volts 🔋
BREAKING NEWS: All six home cities and venues have been unveiled for the 2026 AUSL season.

🔥 @AUSL_Blaze at Smith Family Stadium
🤠 @AUSL_Bandits at The Stadium at Parkway Bank
⚡️ @AUSL_Spark at Tom Heath Field 
🏔️ @AUSL_Cascade at Hillsboro Ballpark
🔋 @AUSL_Volts at Dell Diamond
🦅 @AUSL_Talons at Dumke Family Stadium
12pm ET. Jan 13. ⏰
in the days following the announcement of AUSL home locations, Kim Ng will host an “Ask Me Anything” session on the r/AUSL subreddit ✍️

the 30-minute Reddit AMA will take place on January 15th at 12pm ET!
we are just ONE WEEK AWAY from announcing home cities 👀
this series gave us so many gems 💎
ausl, but make it b&w 📸
making it look tooooo easy in lf 😮‍💨
new year's resolution: play more softball ✨

happy new year everyone!