Sara Groenewegen

Sara Groenewegen was born and raised in Surrey, B.C. and grew up playing minor softball with the White Rock Renegades.She has been playing high level softball while managing Type 1 diabetes since she was diagnosed at the age of nine. At the collegiate level, Groenewegen played for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers while obtaining a degree in Sport Management with a minor in Leadership. With the Gophers, she was a three-time All-American from 2014-17 and holds the Gophers’ record for career strikeouts (1,214) in addition to recording a 0.63 earned-run average as a senior. In addition to pitching for the Gophers, Groenewegen also spent time as a designated player, amassing 37 doubles, two triples and 36 home runs in 233 games.

In her first tournament with Team Canada, Groenewegen threw a no-hitter against China at the 2013 WBSC Junior Women's World Championship. She made the jump to the Women's National Team that same year and suited up for the World Cup of Softball and the Canada Cup. She has continued her career with the Women's National Team since then as part of the 2014 and 2016 WBSC Women's Softball World Championship squads, the latter of which she took home bronze. She was named to the 2018 WBSC World Championship roster but was unable to compete at the event after contracting Legionnaires' disease a few weeks before the tournament, and made a full recovery ahead of the 2019 season. At the 2015 Pan American Games, she helped lead Canada to a Gold medal finish on home soil in Toronto, earning the complete game win in the Championship game and was also part of Canada' pitching staff at the 2019 Pan American Games, earning a Silver medal. Groenewegen started three games for Team Canada at the 2019 WBSC Americas Qualifier, going 2-1 with a 0.70 ERA and striking out 11 batters in 10.0 innings pitched as Canada qualified for a spot at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Playing for the Canadian Wild of Southern Illinois in 2019 was her second experience with the NPF, as she was drafted by the Akron Racers with the second overall pick in the 2017 NPF Draft and played with them for 2017 season. She was named to the 2019 All-NPF Team by going 6-4 with 3 saves, maintaining a 1.52 ERA and notching 64 strikeouts in 73.2 innings pitched.

Q&A

What’s your favourite food? Tacos
What’s the best movie you’ve ever watched? The Call or Gone Girl
What’s your pre-game ritual? I always make sure I drink coffee before games
What’s your favourite place that softball has taken you, and why? For Worlds in 2014 we went to the Netherlands, and that was special for me because I’m Dutch and I got to see a bunch of my family there that I had never met before, it was really cool.
What are your future aspirations? I definitely want to compete for Team Canada at the Olympics in softball in 2020. I also want to own an indoor softball facility, or coach softball at the Division 1 level in the NCAA
If you could spend an hour with anyone in the world, living or dead, who would it be? Billy Jean King

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

2015 Pan American Games – Gold
2016 WBSC World Championship – Bronze
2017 WBSC Americas Qualifier - Bronze
2019 Pan American Games - Silver