Olympian and former 3 three-time All-American Sara Groenewegen enters her second season as a Cardinal assistant coach in 2025.
"We are thrilled to add Sara to our staff," said head coach Jessica Allister. "In addition to her success at the Olympic and professional level in the circle, Sara was a tremendous two-way player at the collegiate level, and a remains a dedicated student of the game. Sara's wide range of softball knowledge gives her a lot of versatility as a coach and her experience playing the game at the highest level makes her a great resource for our student-athletes."
Groenewegen won a bronze medal with Team Canada at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics – the first Olympic medal in softball in Canada's history. She was also a decorated two-way player for Allister and Jessica Merchant, the Jessica Mendoza Associate Head Softball Coach, at Minnesota from 2014-17.
Groenewegen brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of the game having seen success at every level. The starting pitcher in five of Canada's six games at the Tokyo Olympics, Groenewegen also led Team Canada to a silver medal at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru in 2019. At the 2019 Pan Am Games, Groenewegen became Canada's first pitcher to throw a perfect game (August 5 vs. Venezuela). She was also a large contributor to the team's qualification for the Olympic Games in Surrey, B.C., going 2-1 with 11 strikeouts and 0.70 ERA. She also earned All-NPF honors that year for her strong performance in the National Pro Fastpitch league.
At 2024's Softball World Cup, Groenewegen went 2-0 with three starts to earn an All-World selection while Team Canada earned a bronze medal.
In 2018 Groenewegen served as a graduate assistant at Oklahoma, before opting to train full time for the 2020 Olympic cycle. In the lone season in Norman, the Sooners went 57-5 with an appearance in the WCWS semifinal.
Additionally, Groenewegen was a significant member of the 2015 Pan American Championship team. Starting the gold medal game, she pitched an eight inning, seven strikeout game, allowing just one earned run against Team USA. The championship win was the first gold medal for Team Canada Softball in the Pan American Championships in 32 years.
At Minnesota, Groenewegen racked up the accolades early and often. The 2014 Big Ten Pitcher and Freshman of the Year, she became the first three-time NFCA All-American in program history, earning first team nods as a junior and senior. The Big Ten Player of the Year in 2015, and Big Ten Pitcher of the Year again in 2017, Groenewegen was a four-time All-Big Ten first team pick and helped the Gophers win three Big Ten Tournament titles, nabbing Most Outstanding Player honors in 2016 and 2017. She was also a three-time USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year top-10 finalist.
As much success as she saw on the field, Groenewegen succeeded in the classroom as well, earning Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-America honors as a senior. A 2017 Senior CLASS Award top-10 finalist, she was also a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection.
A native of White Rock, British Columbia, Groenewegen earned a degree in sport management from Minnesota in 2017.