Spring All Peninsula 2011 - Peninsula Daily News

8 Friday, June 17, 2011
All-Peninsula Spring 2011
Peninsula Daily News
Competitive to the end
Sequim’s Hopson never
failed to give everything
By Matt Schubert
Peninsula Daily News
SEQUIM — Some might define
Lea Hopson’s athletic career at
Sequim High School by what she
did on the softball diamond.
It would certainly be hard not
to.
As a two-time
Olympic League MVP
with a pair of league
titles, one Class 2A
state crown and possible
school-record 35
career home runs to
her name, she leaves
an indelible impression on the
diamond.
Dig a little deeper, however, in
another venue, and you’ll find
what truly distinguishes Hopson.
For it was on the Sequim basketball
court where she suffered
through double-digit defeats night
after night — and refused to give in.
Where she began her varsity
career with 43 straight losses, but
kept coming back.
Where she saw classmate after
classmate walk away from the
program in frustration until she
was the only one left.
“They’d be behind 30 points,
and she’d be diving for balls,” said
Steve Rosales, the girls basketball
announcer at Wolves home games.
“She never quit.”
Indeed, that is the essence of
what Lea Hopson was all about for
Sequim.
No matter the score, no matter
the number of people in the stands
and no matter the stakes, Hopson
always gave the same all-out effort.
“She was the only one from her
class that stuck it out for four
years of that struggle,” Sequim
girls basketball coach Stephanie
Lewis said. “[Her classmates] all
quit because they couldn’t handle
the losing. She was in it to finish
something she started.”
Of course, Hopson did exactly
that.
Not only was she on the court
when the Wolves snapped a losing
streak that spanned two-plus seasons,
she was also there when they
played in their first playoff game in
three years following a 9-11 regular
season.
All of this despite suffering a
back injury midway through the
season that limited
her minutes and still
Athlete of
the Year
lingers to this day.
“Just because
you’re losing doesn’t
mean you should quit,”
Hopson said. “That
should just give you more reasons
to work harder.
“I couldn’t let those girls down
after all that work they put in.
That’s just my nature.”
That dedication helped inspire
Rosales to create a $250 scholarship
— aptly named the “0-43
scholarship” — to be awarded
annually to every graduating
Sequim girls basketball player.
Since Hopson was the only one
to stick out both 0-20 seasons and
play a full senior year — even after
injuring her back in January —
Rosales decided to give her a $500
scholarship.
“Lea and this team, they just
epitomized what it is to compete,”
Rosales said. “It definitely wasn’t
about winning.”
By contrast, winning was what
Hopson’s senior softball season
was all about.
Featuring a lineup that was
loaded from top to bottom, the
Wolves didn’t lose a single game on
their way to a 28-0 record and 2A
state championship. And in the
middle of it all was Hopson, starting
at shortstop and hitting in the
third spot of the order with the
same pedal-to-the-metal style she
displayed on the basketball court.
Except in that realm she was
also locking up league titles and
MVP awards.
Turn to Hopson/9
Chris Tucker/Peninsula Daily News
Sequim’s Lea Hopson was named the Peninsula Daily News prep athlete of the year for
2010-11 school year for her work on the softball diamond and the basketball court.