Ashley Gruber begins her 11th season on the Penn State Behrend softball coaching staff in 2023-24 after a tremendous five-year career with the Lions. In 2022, she mentored the Lions to their ninth AMCC Championship in program history and earned her 200th career win.  

She has led Behrend to five AMCC Titles and five appearances in the NCAA Tournament with three trips to the ECAC Tournament since her first year in 2014. 

Gruber was a three-time All-Conference selection and two-time Team MVP while earning AMCC Co-Player of the Year as a senior. Her final season she led the team in hits (55), doubles (16), home runs (9), RBIs (50) and batting average (.430). Gruber hit a walk-off home run in the AMCC Championship game to help the Lions reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2009.

She broke the program’s double record and is second all-time in home runs and assists, and is third in RBIs. Gruber also received the Team Scholarship/Leadership Award and the AMCC Spring Sportsmanship Award her junior year.

Gruber graduated from Penn State Behrend in 2012 with a B.S. in math education and a masters in business administration in 2015.