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Back in 2014, 13-year-old Mo’ne Davis was the first girl to earn a win and to pitch a shutout in Little League World Series’ history.
The following year, Davis was the center of media coverage and the proper light was finally centered on women in the little league.
Perhaps most important, she changed the meaning of “throwing like a girl.”
In the past three years she’s starred in a Spike Lee commercial, been mobbed by fans, been on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and decided to focus on her first love—basketball.
Nowadays, the 15-year-old NCAA Division I hopeful is just as good with the rock as she was on the diamond, and similarly commands attention whenever she steps on the court. The South Philly native is currently gearing up for her junior year at Philadelphia’s Springside Chestnut Hill Academy and is ready to make her dreams of one day joining the WNBA a reality.
Davis knows that despite the fame she achieved on the baseball field, making a name for herself on the hardwood will be no easy feat.
“There’s a lot of girls that are really good at my age and older,” she told ESPN W. “I just wanna go out there and show them you can be ranked, but you have to prove on the court why you’re ranked. And we’ll just have a battle, just go right at it. … And we’ll see who wins at the end.”
She’s also aware of the lack of gender inequality in the world of sports, especially when it came to last summer’s Olympics.
“No matter what level it is, everything [between men and women] should be treated the same.The [USA] women’s team is just blowing out girls. The men’s team – I’m not trying to throw shade or anything – just won by like three points.”
With her days of baseball behind here, Davis is determined to make sure her brightest days are ahead.
“Hopefully, that’s not going to be the peak of my life,” Davis told Philly.com when asked about her Little League World Series experience. “I have to keep going up and keep working hard and staying focused and just being myself.”
