May 13, 2016
Webb Part of Mission Trip to Honduras
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – South Carolina junior first baseman Macey Webb earned a repeat appearance on the Southeastern Conference Softball Community Service Team, the league announced this week. She’s the second Gamecock to claim the award twice, following Meghan Cornett’s two nods in the first two years of the team’s existence in 2004-05.
Webb went on a mission trip to Roatan, Honduras, working sports camps and doing street ministry. She made gift baskets for the assisted living home called the Taylor House near her home and visited with the residents, including bringing a Christmas present to one. Webb was a part of the fundraising efforts for Live Again ministries and helped with relief after the Columbia floods in October, collecting donations and helping out at homes that were affected. She spent time working at the West Stanly Middle School in many capacities, including setting up breakfast for the teachers and assisted with the team’s Adopt a Family efforts to provide gifts at Christmas. Webb worked with the Wounded Warrior Amputee Team game against the Gamecock alumni and area first responders. She sorted through gifts and bought more for the Families Helping Families event during Christmas. Webb assisted twice at the Harvest Hope Food Bank in Columbia. She also visited with patients at the Dorn V.A. Hospital in Columbia and helped at Gamecock meet and greet events. Webb is a two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member, a two-time NFCA Scholar-Athlete and a 2015 SEC Softball Community Service Team member.
The SEC sponsors Community Service Teams for all 21 league sponsored sports. The Community Service Team looks to highlight a student-athlete from each school who gives back to their community in superior service efforts. The rest of the 2016 SEC Softball Community Service Team is as follows:
Chandler Dare, Junior, Utility, Alabama
Dare was the most active member of the Alabama softball team in regards to community service during the 2015-16 academic year. In late August, Dare and numerous student-athletes at Alabama participated in the Color Run 5K. The event aims to promote community health and happiness in the self-proclaimed “Happiest 5K on the Planet.” She has also taken time to give back to Tuscaloosa’s veterans, making multiple visits to the Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center to visit with local heroes. The majority of her efforts however focus on the youth of Tuscaloosa, making numerous appearances alongside other Crimson Tide athletes at University Place Elementary to speak with young children about the benefits of a college education. Two annual events that the University of Alabama puts on include the Halloween Extravaganza and Project Angel Tree. The Halloween Extravaganza allows local youth to interact and play Halloween-themed games with Alabama student-athletes, while Project Angel Tree collects gift donations to give to the children of incarcerated parents during the holidays.
Parker Pocklington, Junior, Infielder, Arkansas
Pocklington has accumulated over 30 hours of service learning in Northwest Arkansas during the 2015-16 academic year. Among the list of service projects, she volunteers her time at the women’s shelter in Rogers, CEO Food Pantry, Boys & Girls Club and was part of a group that put together 3,000 bags of food at Cross Church for the hungry. Pocklington has also been involved with the Razorback Canned Food Drive, Equestrian Bridges Annual 2K Dog Walk, Special Olympics Unified Flag Football Game and the Fayetteville Parks & Rec Softball camps. A two-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll, Pocklington carries a 3.83 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) as a rec and sport management major. Earlier this semester, she was selected by Nike, Inc. as the company’s basketball sports marketing intern that will afford Pocklington the opportunity to spend 12 weeks at the company’s corporate headquarters in Beaverton, Ore.
Anna Gibbs, Redshirt Junior, Catcher, Auburn
Gibbs has participated in monthly seminars programs for children with disabilities. At the Dean Road Elementary School, she has served as a volunteer in a special education classroom and at Field Day. Gibbs has visited patients and worked in hospice care at the Bethany House of East Alabama Medical Center. She also assisted with Auburn softball’s “Strike Out Hunger” season-long campaign. Gibbs is the 2016-17 recipient of the Humana Foundation/Wayne T. Smith Endowed Scholarship, which is awarded to those that demonstrate academic excellence and be enrolled in the College of Education. She is a member of the Chi Alpha Sigma Student-Athlete Honor Society and the SEC Academic Honor Roll.
Aubree Munro, Senior, Catcher, Florida
Munro has worked with several programs this academic year, including the MLB Urban Youth Academy, Food4kids, Caleb’s Pitch, Williams Elementary School, Climb for Cancer, Trinity UMC and Lincoln Middle School. Selected to the 2016 USA Softball National Team, she is a two-time member of the WCWS All-Tournament Team and the SEC Academic Honor Roll. Munro was also named to the 2013 SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll.
Samantha LaZear, Senior, Outfielder, Georgia
LaZear helps out her hometown community of Madison County in many projects, including Special Olympics, coat drives and Soles 4 Souls. She founded the Madison County Middle School Clothing Drive, a continuous drive to benefit students in special education classes when a need for clothes arise during the school day for them to keep. LaZear tutors high school and middle school students in math and science. She is also involved in the Madison County High School Mentoring Program, talking to students about the importance of school and outside activities while serving as a source of encouragement. LaZear volunteers for Relay For Life, Homeruns for Hometown Rivals baseball game, and local and rec ball teams. She speaks to many youth teams on the importance of school and practice. LaZear collected toiletries to put in “Beauty Bags” for local women’s shelter. She is a member of SAAC and was also inducted to Georgia’s LEAD Academy. LaZear was named to CoSIDA Academic All-District Team in 2014 and a three-time honoree to SEC Honor Roll. She was also selected to NFCA Scholar-Athlete Team and to Dean’s List.
Ansley Smith, Senior, Infielder, Kentucky
Smith has been a key member of the Lexington community in her time in the Bluegrass, logging over 45 hours of community service. She has been involved in more than a dozen different programs, including the United Way, God’s Pantry Backpack program, Breakfast with Santa, Salvation Army, the Miracle League and the Christian Student Fellowship Program. Smith also scored just under 10 hours of community service helping get Kentucky’s newly-renovated Commonwealth Stadium ready for its 2016 home opener, performing numerous different tasks like cleaning suites, locker room areas, recruiting rooms, etc., to ensure that the first game would show well for a national audience. The Newnan, Ga., native is a 3.3 GPA student, and has also shared her time with the James Lane Allen Elementary School in her time as a Wildcat. Smith earned SEC Honor Roll status in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Sandra Simmons, Senior, Infielder, LSU
Simmons has dedicated over 80 hours to various community service projects in and around LSU and the Baton Rouge area. She has served as a volunteer coach and instructor for youth softball teams in the area. Along with the team, Simmons participated in LSU’s annual free Halloween BOOzar for families, and the “Thanksgiving with the Tigers” event, which adopts a child from the area through the Big Buddy program and distributes gifts and serves a thanksgiving meal to families. Two of the squad’s biggest events happen the same weekend, participating in the “Geaux Teal Ovarian Cancer Walk” and “Strikeout Ovarian Cancer” game to raise awareness for ovarian and GYN cancers. Simmons has spent much of her time volunteering at Charlie’s Place Respite Center in Baton Rouge, a center that houses a program for individuals with early to mild stage Alzheimer’s and dementia-related disorders designed to provide cognitive stimulation and social interaction while giving caregivers a much-needed break. She also spent time last fall volunteering at a women’s homeless shelter with St. Vincent de Paul.
Madi Osias, Senior, Pitcher, Ole Miss
Osias participated in Trick or Trunk, the Rebels’ annual event providing candy and materials with children. With Reading with the Rebels, she was a frequent visitor to area schools reading to classes, visiting with children for one-on-one reading time and leading group discussions. Osias has worked with More Than A Meal, serving the people of Oxford with good food, encouragement and a sense of community. She also assisted with individuals at the North Mississippi Regional Center, one of six comprehensive regional centers in Mississippi that provides an array of services to individuals with intellectual and related developmental disabilities in the northern 23 counties of the state. Osias is a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Alexis Silkwood, Junior, Pitcher/Outfielder, Mississippi State
Silkwood has volunteered in 24 community service events since August 2015, including five hours spent reading to classes at local Starkville schools as part of the 2015-16 school year’s Bully’s Book Blitz campaign. She put together disaster kits at the Boys and Girls Club and participated in Mississippi State’s United We Feed drive to collect food for the less fortunate. Silkwood helped in the morning car pool at Starkville schools and spent 4.5 hours on a campus beautification project in the fall. She also took part in the TK Martin Fun Run for MSU’s TK Martin Center for Technology and Disability. Silkwood serves as the President of the MSU M-Club (a community service club for MSU varsity letter-winners) and is among the top three active service participants across all teams at MSU. She is a member of the Bulldog Honor Roll and is a Dean’s Scholar.
Sydney Sprague, Sophomore, Utility, Missouri
Sprague has tallied over 18.0 community service hours the past two years outside her academic and athletic duties at Missouri. For two years, she has volunteered as an NSAD Special Olympics Buddy. This academic year, Sprague has volunteered her time with Mizzou Moves, the Mizzou Rally Club Field Trip, the CMN Kids Street Fair, Tiger Tots, Special Education at Oakland Middle School and Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Last season, she was named to the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll.
Erin Gabriel, Senior, Pitcher, Tennessee
Gabriel has been heavily involved in a number of community service projects while in Knoxville. This year, she worked with Goals for Girls, teaching a nutrition education class to underprivileged elementary age girls at a local elementary school. Gabriel and her teammates have worked with Team IMPACT, where they adopted a young girl with leukemia onto the team and supported her with her hospital treatments. She helped raised money for leukemia and aided in the Light the Night walk. Gabriel was a part of the Light The Night Walk, which funds research to find cures and ensure access to treatments for all blood cancer patients. She assisted with the construction of a home for a family in Knoxville with Habitat for Humanity. Gabriel also participated in Striking Out Autism softball games at a local elementary school as well as the Martin Luther King Day Parade. With Angels of Hope, she assembled care packages for those in need with food and essential household items. Gabriel has been active in activities sponsored by the Tennessee athletic department, including the annual Holiday Dinner for the homeless and the annual VOLOween Halloween event. She helped decorate Christmas trees for the Fantasy of Trees auction to raise money for the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital. Gabriel has also taken part in the Knoxville Challengers annual softball game with the mentally disabled and the Pat Summitt Race for a Cure. She is the softball team’s representative for Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). Last season, Gabriel was named a 2015 NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete and a member of the 2015 Capital One Academic All-American Third Team. She is the recipient of the 2015-16 Jane R. Savage Scholarship (for nutrition majors) and the 2014 Marilyn & Bobbie Elrod Thornton Center Endowment Award. A two-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll and a member of the 2013 SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll, Gabriel has earned a spot on the Dean’s List every semester.
Hailey Rebar, Sophomore, Catcher, Texas A&M
Rebar has participated in Aggies Can and the Down Right Perfect Game. She has volunteered numerous times at the local Special Olympics as well as at a local museum in Bryan, Texas and at Holmes High School in the summer. Rebar helped with the Kyle Field Clean Up in the spring. She helps mentor kids from Holmes High School with their transition to Texas A&M.
