By Staff Writer, Paige Thor

            Located on the second floor near the girl’s softball field are two murals painted by Softball Coach Rich Hoppe. These murals that have been displayed since January and February can be difficult to find, but they should still be recognized and appreciated for its message and tribute to softball.

            “We love our sport. [The softball girls] need to be recognized,” Hoppe said. “I painted these murals for the celebration of passions. Whether your passion is soccer, football [or tennis], these murals are to celebrate that.”

 “Have glove will travel” is the expression Hoppe chose to paint on the first mural on the back of the ceramics shed. These words are painted above a softball player diving to catch a ball with her glove. This phrase represents the traveling a softball player does.

“In this sport, [the] girls get to travel around to other schools, meet other players, and make new friends,” Hoppe said.

The glove symbolizing softball signifies that playing softball can take one places around the world.

            The second mural that can be found behind the computer lab bungalows says “Hoover Tornadoes whipping up, it’s what we do,” depicted with girls playing softball in a city with palm trees and a tornado twisting up softball bats and balls. Team captain Allison Yee (’07) said that at first the team did not know what the saying meant. But after playing softball and thinking about the term they realized that it refers to “whipping up” the ball when pitching or “whipping up” the bat when swinging.

            “The murals give me something to look at during practices,” Yee said. “It’s entertaining.”