“This is not just about me, it’s not just about one committed coach. It’s about my full coaching staff, all of our husbands and significant others who support us through all,” Sneller said. “My players, our parents, our communities showing up for not just our regular season and postseason games, but our events that we hold as well. For the girls to be seen, this isn’t just one person, this is everybody as a whole that makes this program what it is.”

Turning around the Hive

The Sting’s successful 2026 season was the result of trusting a slow-growth process. The program has continued to return a strong core group of players over recent years, who have also grown up playing together. That process has turned YME into one of the more dominant teams in Section 3A.

Sneller and her coaching staff turned YME around from a 7-15 record in 2024 and doubled it to 14-8 in 2025, from which the players grew another year older together and thrived for a 20-7 campaign this season.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Yellow Medicine East head coach Jen Sneller cheers for her team from the sideline in the Section 3A Championship on May 28 in Marshall.

“They started together four years ago as a really young varsity squad. They were seventh, eighth, and ninth graders competing at the varsity level, and we told them they were going to have really hard years. They were going to have hard seasons, they were going to have really hard games, but if they stuck it out together, if they learned together, if they grew together, they would see the reward in the end,” Sneller said. “That’s ultimately what the season came down to. The reward for some of these girls is three, four and five years of hard work on the varsity level.”

YME received the top seed in the 3A North subsection and did not fall to the elimination bracket. The Sting cruised to the section championship game, crossing off yet another goal the team set at the beginning of the season.

Although YME came up short in back-to-back losses to BOLD in the title game, the postgame emotions partially came from the season’s end, but it was also important to Sneller that the team genuinely understood the magnitude of what this season meant to the program’s history and to the YME community.

“Losing sucks, plain and simple. But, be proud of playing your best games all season long,” Sneller said. “I just want our girls to be proud of themselves for getting to the section finals, competing at that level, and for ultimately doing something that YME softball has not done before.”

A big year for the Sneller’s

Photo by Samantha Davis: Yellow Medicine East Jen Sneller talks with senior Ella Cherveny before going up to the plate in the Section 3A Championship on May 28 in Marshall.

This season in particular was also one to remember for the Sneller family for a handful of reasons.

Leading YME to the section championship has been a very long time coming for the program, and Sneller did it in her 13th season leading the varsity squad. She also went to Yellow Medicine East as a student growing up, and played for the softball team she now coaches.

Additionally, this was the final season Sneller and her daughter, Bayli, shared the same field. The Sting’s tenacious pitching identity has been centered around Bayli over the past few seasons, and she is also one of the leading hitters.

Sneller said Bayli has been around the game of softball since her early childhood, and grew emotional when talking about what this season meant for the two regarding the end of a chapter in their lives with Bayli’s senior season coming to a close.

“You never expect to get to have that opportunity with your kid. It’s so much fun as a parent to watch your child play a sport that they love, but to get the front-row seat on the inside of the fence has just been the most phenomenal part of my coaching career,” Sneller said.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Yellow Medicine East head coach Jen Sneller (right) shares a hug with her daughter Bayli Sneller, a senior pitcher for the Sting, following YME's loss in the Section 3A championship on May 28 in Marshall.

Bayli was one of the area’s leading pitchers again this season. She pitched all but six innings and finished the year with a 1.75 ERA with an impressive 220 strikeouts. She also had 29 hits on a .345 batting average.

“She grew up with the boys in daycare, playing ball with them in the backyard. I started coaching before I was even pregnant with her, so even as a little kid, she was coming to my games to watch. She interacted with my players at a young age, so she’s literally grown up around the fast pitch,” Sneller said. “I mean, that doesn’t always promise that they’re going to love it like you do, but this time, it definitely did.”

Creating buzz around the area

The season didn’t particularly start out the way Sneller or the team had hoped. But, after some tough conversations, YME quickly moved its way to the top of the Camden Conference and section.

YME started off this season 4-4, with two of the losses coming against Class 2A Minneota/Canby in a doubleheader.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Yellow Medicine East head coach Jen Sneller (left) talks with her assistant coaches during the Section 3A quarterfinals on May 23 in Marshall.

But, after those first eight games, the Sting embarked on a nine-game win streak and flew through the rest of the regular season. YME ended with five regular-season losses, four of which came in those first eight games.

“I think we started not confident, that we possibly went into games playing not to lose versus playing to win. Once we had that hard conversation with the girls [of] don’t underestimate yourselves, don’t underestimate your abilities, they just bought into that,” Sneller said. “They knew that wasn’t the season that they wanted, so they needed to turn, lock in on their own abilities, their own talents and each other’s, because clearly it’s not a one-person game. It’s something that they all had to do together.”

Sneller said the coaches had a sit-down with the team early on to emphasize the standards and capabilities of this year’s group.

“I did not expect the season to start 4-4. I certainly expected more out of the girls. That was the conversation that we had, us coaches had really high expectations for this team. When you return all of your starters, you don’t get to start over. You start where you left off the year before,” Sneller said. “They didn’t do that right away at the beginning of the season. [We had] to remind them that you’ve all done this before, and we’re not letting you slack. Like, pick it up, get back to the expectations that us coaches have for you, and move forward.”

And, that’s exactly what the Sting did from there on out.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Yellow Medicine East head coach Jen Sneller cheers for her team after making a big defensive play against BOLD in the Section 3A quarterfinals on May 23 in Marshall.

With the group that has been playing together for years, defensive depth is one area of the game that served YME well this season. Once the Sting got going, there wasn’t much that could get past them between Bayli’s pitching and the defense that protected behind her.

“It was just fun because there were so many games where a different player stepped into huge roles. It was never just one person … Everybody contributed to making us the team that we were,” Sneller said. “They very much celebrated each other’s successes, and that is just so heartwarming.”

As the season came to a close, Sneller also made sure to honor her three seniors, who have dedicated years to the varsity program and helped make it what it is. Along with Bayli, Alana Almich has been her duo behind the plate as YME’s primary catcher, and Ella Cherveny has been a reliable force managing the outfield in center.

Coaching this trio of seniors for a final time also added to the emotions of this season for Sneller, who noted she has been coaching the three since they were in third grade.

“They were brutally honest with each other, which I think was actually necessary with this team. But, they also were constantly giving positive reinforcement and letting them know, the younger girls, like, ‘You made a mistake, so what now what, move on, here we go,'” Sneller said. “They had to jump into the role young. Those three seniors kind of actually started when they were sophomores, not just as juniors. They already started having their voice, and the three of them have so much knowledge of the game, because they’ve played for so long together.”

‘Fun, but focused’

Behind all the discipline and resiliency, it was also a memorable season for the Sting because of their team chemistry. Watching relationships grow that translated into success on the field is an aspect that drives Sneller in her coaching as well.

“We had a phrase, ‘Fun but focused’ all season long, where we needed to lock in [at] practices and games, but also there were so many moments in practice where we were laughing until we were crying,” Sneller said. “Ultimately, it’s just a game, and games are supposed to be fun … This mindset was really what helped them reach their goals throughout the season.”

Sneller put emphasis on noting that YME’s success has been because of everyone who has invested time into the program, whether that being fans, parents, spouses, school support, the community, and particularly cited high praise for her assistant coaches, Angela Winter, Kristi Klassen, Danie Koepke, Brooklyn Sorensen, Lauren McCosh and Amy Nordaune, stating that she wouldn’t be able to do the job without them.

While the season came to a close in late May, Sneller detailed her appreciation to the team for trusting the process, facing challenges head-on and for making it a year she won’t forget in her coaching career, and neither will the YME community.

“I think that’s what makes them so special, is that they are friends on and off the field … We play this game, because our family is playing this game together and our friends are playing this game together,” Sneller said. “I think that’s what makes it extra special. It’s the moments they create off the field that are just as important to find success, as the ones that are on the field.”