University of Minnesota Athletics
Groenewegen Receives All-American Honor
5/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
NFCA Release
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Minnesota softball sophomore Sara Groenewegen has been named a National Fastpitch Coaches' Association (NFCA) Second Team All-American, the organization announced Wednesday afternoon. Groenewegen is the program's 11th All-American and is the third student-athlete to earn the honor in five seasons under current head coach Jessica Allister.
An instrumental part of the Gophers' 49-11 season, Groenewegen was a top-10 finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award and was named the Big Ten Player of the Year. She became the first Minnesota player to win the award since 1991 and the third player in the history of the conference to earn its player, pitcher and freshman of the year awards over the course of her career.
In addition to five conference pitcher of the week accolades, the White Rock, B.C. native was a unanimous First Team All-Big Ten selection and was also First Team NFCA All-Great Lakes Region. She also picked up Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I National Pitcher of the Week, USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Week and espnW National Player of the Week plaudits for her efforts in the final week of the regular season in games against Wisconsin and Purdue.
In the circle, Groenewegen had second-highest win (31) and strikeout (379) totals in school history. She posted 17 double-digit strikeout performances, including a school-record 19 strikeout game against Purdue. Her strikeout total ranked third in the nation and her clip of 11.3 strikeouts per seven innings ranks second in the nation.
She tossed no-hitters against NCAA Tournament teams Northwestern and North Dakota State, hurled one-hitters against Mississippi State and Iowa and added two-hitters against Stetson, Iowa, Purdue (twice) and New Mexico State.
At the plate, Groenewegen raised her batting average 73 points from her rookie year to .372 and notched 17 multi-hit games, including three four-hit performances. She led the Gophers with 12 home runs and is tied for fifth on the school's all-time home run list with 23 after just two seasons. In her sophomore campaign, she drove in 44 runs, five of which were game-winners and nine of which came with two outs.
Groenewegen had a season-high hit streak of nine games and reached base in 26-consecutive games from March 28 to May 16. She also registered 11 multi-RBI games, including three multi-home run games and a six RBI game against Illinois March 20.
Minnesota had a program-best .817 win percentage in 2015 and qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season. The Maroon and Gold's 49 wins matched an all-time best.
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