May 4, 2011

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Junior infielder Sam Arbaugh earned a spot on the 2011 Southeastern Conference Softball Community Service Team, the league office announced Wednesday.

Arbaugh assisted with the SEC Together We CAN food drive effort this fall and worked the Kids Rock Disabiity Walk. She also was among the softball Gamecocks that shopped for Christmas presents as part of the Families Helping Families promotion, an annual event with WIS-TV. Sam helped deliver the presents to the family just before Christmas and spent time with them. She worked the team’s clinic on Martin Luther King Jr. Day for local softball players. Sam led a group to New Providence Elementary School for the Books and BBQ event, where she was among the student-athletes that read books to the parents and children in attendance. Also, she spearheaded a new effort to collect bottle caps and distribute them to local people in need of dialysis, where they could trade the caps for a free treatment.

A member of the South Carolina Student Athlete Advisory committee, Arbaugh is a two-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll and captured the 2010 SEC Sportsmanship Award for a female.

The SEC sponsors Community Service Teams for all 20 league sponsored sports. The Community Service Team looks to highlight an athlete from each school who gives back to her community in superior service efforts. This is the eighth year the conference has chosen a softball-only team.

The rest of the 2011 SEC Softball Community Service Team is as follows:
Courtney Conley, Sophomore, Alabama
Amanda Caldwell, Senior, Arkansas
Morgan Murphy, Junior, Auburn
Megan Bush, Senior, Florida
Alisa Goler, Senior, Georgia
Meagan Aull, Senior, Kentucky
Ashley Applegate, Senior, LSU
Amanda Hutcheson, Junior, Ole Miss
Courtney Nesbit, Senior, Mississippi State
Ivy Renfroe, Sophomore, Tennessee