LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) softball program is the first recipient of the new Bryce Gerlach Memorial Foundation Stronger Together Award, presented in honor of Gerlach and his family to support teams, encourage healing, and provide program-specific support during trying times.
The monetary award, given by the Bryce Gerlach Memorial Foundation, provides resources to softball programs who have experienced sudden adversity or tragedy. Nominated by member coaches and selected by the NFCA Awards Committee, recipients will receive $1,000 to assist those who experience sudden adversity or tragedy and need special support and services to provide strength, unity, and healing.
WPI softball went through tremendous adversity through the 2025-26 academic year as head coach Heather Ross was diagnosed with stage 3c metastatic melanoma, and in January a softball student-athlete was diagnosed with stage 2 lymphoma.
Over the course of the academic year, Ross, who is now the head coach at Tufts University, underwent a major surgery to remove 41 lymph nodes, had rounds of immunotherapy treatments, additional infusions to treat her pancreas, and weekly IV fluids, while the student-athlete underwent chemotherapy treatments every other week from January through June. During the season, she would go home after WPI’s Saturday doubleheader, receive her treatments on Monday and return to campus on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The perseverance shown by the entire program carried into an historic 2026 season. WPI finished the year with a remarkable 44-5 record, including a 19-1 mark in New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play. The Engineers captured both the NEWMAC regular-season and tournament championships and earned the No. 4 overall seed in the NCAA Division III Softball Tournament.
“She was an NFCA All-Region player while going through chemotherapy treatments,” said Ross, the NEWMAC Coach of the Year. “She is the inspiration of the WPI Softball team and many of players/coaches "why's" behind what we all did this past season.”
According to Ross, the hardships brought connection, vulnerability, awareness, and leadership to the WPI Softball program. With no full-time assistants, a lot of the team leadership was developed while Ross was not at her physical best or was not at a full practice due to appointments. Additionally, it was inspiring to watch a teammate of their own go through the hardship of cancer treatments, and still show up, compete, and be a great teammate and team leader.
“The culture of the WPI Softball program has always been of support, love, and investment in the people; last year that was evident through how they held themselves and competed with and for each other, despite the hardships the team was facing,” said Ross. “It brought a unified, connected purpose and intention behind everything we did, whether it was on the field, in the weight room, or in the classroom.”
WPI intends to use the funds to support outside workshops to continue to instill the team values of connection and support, with an emphasis on the mental health side of being a collegiate student-athlete.
