Mo’ne Davis - The Sensation
BASEBALL - PITCHER - LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES - SOFTBALL - 2B - HAMPTON UNIVERSITY
ARCHETYPE: THE SENSATION
Day 57/135
Athletic Accomplishments
Mo’ne Davis is a textbook multisport athlete who was effectively “discovered” in 2008 by Philly area coach, Steve Bandura, when she was playing pickup football with her older brother and cousins. Seeing 7 year-old Davis’s athleticism, he invited her to his team’s basketball practice, where she was the only girl. But let’s be real, an athlete is an athlete. And Davis jumped in and quickly became the best player on the roster.
By 2011, at age 10, she transferred to an all girls private school where she played basketball, soccer, and baseball, while continuing to play Little League.
In 2014, the 13 year-old Davis played baseball for the Taney Dragons. On August 10, she pitched a three-hit, 8–0 shutout over Newark Delaware’s team to earn the Dragons a spot in the Mid-Atlantic Region of the Little League World Series.
She was one of only two girls in the World Series that year, the first Black girl to ever play in the Little League World Series.
On August 15, 2014, Davis caught national attention for pitching a shutout in a 4-0 win over Nashville. In six innings, she struck out eight batters, gave up only two infield hits, and became the first girl to pitch a win in the Little League World Series.
Her performance drove the all-time highest ratings for any Little League World Series game and landed her on the cover of Sports Illustrated. She was also named Sports Illustrated Kids’ “SportsKid of the Year” and one of espnW’s Impact 25 in 2014. Everybody fell in love with this skinny 13 year-old dynamo, throwing 70 mph fastballs—at the upper end of her age group’s average velocity—and locating the plate like a natural.
In high school, Davis went on to play varsity soccer, basketball, and softball, winning state championships in both soccer and softball.
Mo’ne Davis currently plays second base for the Hampton University softball team. The sophomore is quietly making a name for herself, which is a big contrast to how she roared onto the scene in 2014 at the Little League World Series.
Character Archetype: The Sensation
As she stepped on the diamond and pitched six shutout innings, Mo’ne Davis captured the hearts and minds of every baseball fan in the 2014 Little League World Series. She was one of only two girls competing that year, only the fourth American girl and 18th overall girl to ever compete, and the first Black girl to play in the Little League World Series.
Davis was discovered by a local coach while playing pickup football with her brother and cousins. He recruited her to his basketball team where she was the only girl, the best player, and confirmed his hypothesis: this kid was an athlete.
In youth sports, Davis played with the boys, and here’s why that’s important. It’s not just that she got access to the same resources, coaching, and competition that boys got. It’s also that those boys—her teammates—saw what girls can do when given the opportunity. When we treat kids the same, everybody wins.