Worcester Polytechnic Institute

The 2025 campaign marks the fourth season at WPI for head softball coach Heather Ross as she holds a 90-56-1 (.616) record on Boynton Hill.

WPI finished 23-19-1 with an 11-9 stint in conference action including a sweep over Johnson & Wales in its 2024 New England debut, split with Eastern Connecticut State, No. 14 MIT, and Bates. The Engineers later rallied for a 11-game win streak featuring sweeps over Worcester State, Smith, Salve Regina, Amherst, Clark and split with Coast Guard. WPI earned the sixth seed and later advanced to game 10 of the NEWMAC Championship with tournament wins over Coast Guard in the play-in, and back-to-back upsets in the same day versus No. 5 Smith and the top-seeded Pride in Springfield. Coach Ross' crew advanced to the final day of the NEWMAC tournament before getting knocked off by No. 4 Babson. 

The Engineers posted a 20-20 overall record a 11-7 record in NEWMAC play en route to earning the fourth seed heading into the NEWMAC postseason tournament. WPI fell to fifth-seed Babson in extra innings dropping a 3-2 season-ending loss in Game Six of the NEWMAC tournament to Coast Guard. 

In her first season, Ross and her team made history at WPI capturing the first-ever NCAA Softball Super Regional Championship, earning its first berth to the NCAA Division III National Championship series in Salem, VA. After falling to the eventual 2022 national champion, Christopher Newport, the Engineers finished its historical season with a 35-17 record and No. 12 national ranking.

Ross saw many accomplishments in her first year at WPI including the program’s 3rd NEWMAC Conference Championship ('16, '19, '22), 3rd NCAA Regional Championship ('15,'16, '22), 1st Super Regional Championship, 1st trip to the NCAA DIII National Championship, 1st NCAA Elite-90 Award Winner (Lindsay Ambrosino), and many individuals awards including; NCAA Regional Player and Pitcher of Tournament, All-Tournament Team, NCAA All-Region, CoSIDA Academic All-American, NEWMAC All-Conference, NEWMAC All Academic-Team, and NFCA Scholar Athletes.

Prior to arriving at WPI, Ross led the Lesley University Lynx for five seasons. She left following the 2021 season, where she was voted by her peers as the NECC Coach of the Year, and her Lynx squad ended their season as the NECC Conference runner-up. The Lynx topped at 10th in the New England region rankings, finished top 10 in a wide variety of categories, and produced the NECC Female Student-Athlete of the Year, NCAA Women of the Year Nominee, and NECC Player of the Year. Lesley posted All-Conference and All-Region individual accolades in addition to multiple no-hitters, weekly award winners, NECC Academic All-Conference awards, 12 NFCA All-American Scholar Athletes, and led the athletics department in team GPA (3.63).

Heather previously served as an assistant softball coach at UMass Lowell and Emmanuel, director of Nor’easters Baseball/Softball, and currently stands as owner/director of Hard 60 Softball Camps. 

Ross helped lead the UMass Lowell River Hawks to the NE-10 Tournament Championship, advancing to the NCAA East Region semifinal during her freshman campaign. Ross graduated leaving a top-10 mark in games played, doubles, home runs, total bases, and tied the single-season win record with her 2011 crew. Ross concluded her student-athlete career in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and in 2013 with a master’s degree in social and economic development.

Ross also served as the Assistant Director of Athletics, Senior Women’s Administrator, and Sports Information Director at Lesley.