13-Year-Old Becomes First Girl To Pitch A Shutout In LL World Series
The Little League World Series is the grandest stage in all of organized youth baseball, and 13-year old hurler Mo’ne Davis, a girl from Philadelphia, is definitely the star of the show. Mo’ne pitched a shutout in her first game of the Little League World Series, as her Taney Dragons took down the team from Nashville, 4-0. Davis’ line was spectacular as she gave up only two hits in her six innings of work and struck out eight. Major League Baseball tweeted out Davis’ feat shortly after the game.
Mo’Ne Davis is #LightsOut at the #LLWS. pic.twitter.com/TTCw9xhvOd
— MLB (@MLB) August 15, 2014
The right-hander, with her 70-mile-per-hour fastball, was as dominate today as in the games that got her team to Williamsport, where she also threw a complete game shutout against the squad from Newark, New Jersey to become the last U.S. team to qualify for the LLWS.
According to the New York Daily News, Mo’ne Davis is the first US girl to compete in the Little League World Series since 2004, and the fourth all time. ESPN reports that there have been 18 girls who have competed in the 68 years the LLWS has been held. But that hasn’t stopped the phenom from completely taking over the tournament.
Even superstar Angels outfielder Mike Trout is impressed with young Davis’ feat. Trout tweeted earlier.
Mo’ne Davis is straight dominating…fun to watch!!! #LLWS#MidAtlantic
— Mike Trout (@Trouty20) August 15, 2014
Because of the nature of the tournament, and the fact that these kids have young arms, Davis was on a strict pitch count going into the game. She only had 65 pitches to work with, and after the fifth inning, she was up to 57. That didn’t bother Davis, according to Yahoo! Sports. She just adjusted. As Davis said after the last out was recorded:
“I knew I only had eight pitches left. So I had to squeeze those eight pitches in.”
Mo’ne Davis is only 13 years old, but she is already thinking of her pro career, and it might not be in baseball. Yahoo! Sports reports that Davis wants to join Jaden Newman and play college basketball at the University of Conneticut when she’s older. We’re sure there are a lot of young hitters glad to hear that. Mo’ne Davis will return to the mound on three days rest on Monday, and her team will play the winner of Texas versus Rhode Island on Sunday as the Little League World Series continues.
[Image courtesy of AP/Gene J. Puskar]
