PARSONS — Tenacity tinged with tragedy, a delicate balancing act that Labette Cardinals sophomore catcher Winter Snyder is engulfed in.
A first team All-KJCCC selection as a freshman, Snyder, a Humboldt native, overcame missing her last two high school seasons and established herself as a power bat in arguably the NJCAA’s best conference.
Less than a month after her freshman campaign ended in the final round of the region tournament — two wins shy of a national tournament berth — Snyder’s bravado was shaken with the sudden death of her adoptive father, Tom.
Snyder’s story, still being written, doesn’t follow a Disney formula. Any happy endings will be juxtaposed with pain in perpetuity.
Acceptance and an ability to keep pain in tow is her evolving legacy.
Snyder was a stellar multi-sport athlete at Humboldt High School. In addition to being named to the Topeka Capital-Journal’s all-state softball team as a sophomore, Snyder played basketball and was a state champion powerlifter.
After earning all-state softball honors, Snyder never played another full season for Humboldt. As a junior, she tore her posterior cruciate ligament, which kept her out nearly the entire year.
A year later, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic canceled spring sports across the country at all levels.
“We were expecting great things from her as a senior, and we would’ve had a great season,” Humboldt head coach Brad Piley said. “It was a big blow to her, but she handled it great. A lot better than most people would. Most people would’ve quit and given up.”
Snyder worked on the frontlines as a caretaker for a woman with cerebral palsy.
“It was really shocking,” Snyder said. “We never got to go back to school. It was so weird. Online school wasn’t for me. But I still did it every day.”
THE IGNITION to continue her softball career never lost its spark. Snyder committed to Labette in November 2019, before the pandemic.
Three of Snyder’s former teammates on her travel team, the K.C. Legends, including current Labette assistant Audrey Miller, played at Labette and sold Snyder on the Cardinals.
“Those girls were always talking about Labette,” Snyder said. “I didn’t want to go somewhere right in my backyard. Labette was nationally ranked and Coach (Ryan) Phillips was highly talked about. When I came and visited, the atmosphere was just amazing.”
Miller had a path that nearly mirrored Snyder’s. Miller, an All-American catcher as a freshman in 2019 for Labette, lost most of her sophomore year to the pandemic.
Miller also missed her junior year of high school to a torn anterior cruciate ligament, providing an atlas for Snyder to navigate.
