University of Minnesota Athletics
2017 Season In Review
6/8/2017 12:00:00 AM | Softball
The University of Minnesota Gophers softball team smashed records on their way to going 56-5 with Big Ten regular season and tournament titles to show for it.
The 56 wins was the most in a season in program history and the five losses was the fewest. The Gophers also broke a record for longest win streak to start a season with 19 and longest win streak ever with 26 straight. Prior to this season the Gopher were never ranked in the top-10 in either major polls. This season they reached No. 1 in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches poll and No. 3 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll. The regular season Big Ten title was the first one since 1991 for Minnesota while the tournament championship was their third in four years.
After spending the first eight weeks of the season on the road the Gophers came back home with a 30-3 record. They packed Jane Sage Cowles Stadium weekend after weekend in April setting a new season attendance record with 14,346 fans. On April 23, 2017 the Gophers broke a Jane Sage Cowles single game attendance record with 1,383 fans after they had added over 200 temporary seats along left field. The Gophers went 16-0 at home this season.
Minnesota's season came to an end at the Tuscaloosa Regional against Alabama but not before making a splash on the national scene. On Saturday, May 20 the Gophers game against Alabama was seen by 616,000 viewers on ESPN, according to In The Circle. Their elimination game against Alabama was the most watched softball game on ESPNU with 505,000 viewers.
The Gophers set team single season records for batting average (.343), on base percentage (.446), runs scored (438) and walks (279). They finished first in the NCAA in doubles per game and win/loss percentage, second in ERA and on base percentage and third in batting average and scoring.
The Maroon and Gold won a plethora of awards in the 2017 season. They combined to win 19 weekly Big Ten awards, broke a program record with 15 All-Big Ten Team and Individual season awards and broke a program record with four First-Team NFCA Great Lakes All-Region honorees. They swept the Big Ten individual awards as head coach Jessica Allister was named Coach of the Year, Kendyl Lindaman won Freshman and Player of the Year and Sara Groenewegen won Pitcher of the Year for the second time in her career.
Lindaman (catcher), Groenewegen (pitcher), Maddie Houlihan (outfield), Allie Arneson (shortstop) and Danielle Parlich (third base) were all selected to the first-team. Prior to this season there had never been more than three Gophers to earn first-team honors in the same season. Sam Macken (outfield), Sydney Dwyer (first base) and Dani Wagner (outfield) all earned second-team honors. Lindaman, Groenewegen, Houlihan and Dwyer all earned first-team All-Region honors, Wagner was named to the second-team and Parlich and MaKenna Partain each notched third-team honors.
Groenewegen and Lindaman proved to be the best battery in the country as they both earned First-Team NFCA All-American honors. It was the first time in team history that the Gophers had two first-teamers and Groenewegen became the Gophers first ever three-time All-American.
Groenewegen went 31-4 with a 0.63 ERA and 307 strikeouts. It was her third straight season with 31 wins (second most in a Gophers single season) and her 0.63 ERA is the second lowest recorded ERA in a season in program history. She was a USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award top-10 finalist for the third straight season and also earned CoSIDA Academic All-America team honors this season. She holds the Gophers career strikeout record with 1,214 strikeouts.
Lindaman was also the first ever Big Ten player ever to be named a Schutt Sports/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year top-3 finalist. She collected a record breaking eight B1G Freshman of the Week plaudits. Lindaman led the Big Ten in home runs (20), slugging percentage (.899), RBI (tied-76), walks (63), on base percentage (.598) and batting average (.426). The home runs, slugging percentage, RBI, walks and on base percentage were all school records. She also finished third in the NCAA in on base percentage, tied for third in RBI, fourth in slugging percentage and seventh in home runs.
The Gophers lose three seniors in Groenewegen, Macken and Tori Finucane. Groenewegen will be pitching for the Akron Racers and Team Canada this summer and will be back in school for one more semester in the fall. Macken graduated and is looking for a job but is set to help youth enjoy the game she loves. Finucane has an internship with a fashion company in New York this summer. As of now, the Gophers are bringing in seven newcomers for the 2018 season.
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