Little League World Series star Mo’ne Davis is still pitching

The sensation of the 2014 Little League World Series, Mo’ne Davis is still playing baseball with the boys in the RBI World Series in Cincinnati.

Mo’ne Davis burst upon the baseball scene as a member of the Pennsylvania Little League team that advanced to the 2014 Little League World Series. She was the first girl to pitch a shutout in Little League postseason history and the game her team played on August 20, 2014 is still the highest-rated Little League game ever shown on ESPN.

She was a star of that series, with her athleticism and charisma, and she inspired little girls across the country to play baseball. Her fastball was clocked at 70 miles per hour from the Little League distance, which is equivalent in reaction time to a 93-mph fastball thrown on a full-size diamond. On August 25, she became the first Little League player to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated and was among the nominees for Sportsman of the Year.

More accolades followed. She met President Obama and threw out the first pitch at the World Series. Spike Lee told her story in a documentary and she released a memoir, written with Hillary Beard, called Mo’ne Davis: Remember My Name. She also helped design a line of sneakers for girls with shoe company M4D3 (Make a Difference Everyday).

Even as she excelled in baseball back then, Davis made it clear that basketball was her favorite sport. She’s still playing baseball, but this could be her final season. Davis recently pitched in the RBI World Series as a 16-year-old. The tournament runs from August 1 to August 12 in Cincinnati, Ohio. In her team’s opening game, David came on in relief with her team leading 3-1, but allowed two runs in what became a 4-3 loss.

Davis is playing baseball with the Philadelphia Phillies RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) team in the Junior division, but plays softball for her high school team. Still, as it was back in 2014, basketball is her main sport. Her dream is playing in the WNBA, not MLB, and she hopes to earn a basketball scholarship to play in college.

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If Davis follows her dream to play basketball at a Division I school, then goes on to play in the WNBA, it will be a terrific accomplishment. It will also mean she won’t be the first woman to play in the major leagues. It was a long shot anyway, of course. No woman has yet come particularly close to the highest level of the game, although there are two women playing for the Sonoma Stompers of the independent Pacific Association.

In July, one of those women, Stacy Piagno, became the third woman to earn a win in a professional men’s game since the 1950s. She pitched seven innings and allowed just one run on four hits. The previous two women to win games in a men’s professional league were Ila Borders and Eri Yoshida. The Stompers also have outfielder Kelsie Whitmore on the roster. Whitmore had her first hit in the game in which Piagno earned the win.

At the college ranks, left-handed knuckleball pitcher Claire Eccles is pitching for the Victoria HarbourCats of the West Coast League (WCL). The WCL is a collegiate summer baseball league. Eccles has pitched in seven games, but has really struggled. She’s allowed 13 earned runs and 20 base runners in 8 1/3 innings.

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Many people think it’s only a matter of time before a woman makes it to the major leagues. Two years ago, fans were excited about Mo’ne Davis potentially being that woman some years down the road, but her passion for basketball will likely take her down a different path. Still, perhaps the recognition she continues to get will inspire a girl even younger than Davis to be the trailblazer.