Photo credits: GENE J. PUSKAR/AP

When Mo’ne Davis (pictured) was just 13 years old, she was playing for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s Taney Dragons – a Little League baseball team. 

On August 19, 2014. Davis became the first teen athlete to adorn Sports Illustrated magazine’s front page. When the pint-sized pitcher made youth baseball history, she was just in the eighth grade. At 5’4″ and 111 pounds, Davis blazed a major trail at the Little League World Series. 

With intense contending, as well as earning athletic news glory, Davis seized America’s recognition. 

“Last week, this week, maybe next week, she’s owned the sports conversation. How often do you get to say this about a 13-year-old girl? It’s the easiest type of story to identify as a cover story,” stated Chris Stone, an editorial administrator for Sports Illustrated.

 “The writer [who wrote Davis’ article], Albert Chen, said it perfectly in the story, ‘She’s a lot of things to a lot of different people, all of them good things: a totem for inner-city baseball, a role model for your 10-year-old niece, a role model for your 10-year-old nephew.’ Most of all, she’s a laid-back kid just having a really good time,”‘ Stone told reporters.

America’s baseball watchers brought major attention when Davis tossed an incredible pitch. The baseball was launched from her hand at a speed of over 112 kilometers per hour. She threw a complete game without allowing a single run at 2014’s Mid-Atlantic Final. After that, she led her Taney Dragons to the World Series. 

Davis tracked this rise to become baseball’s premier teen female to lockdown a complete game for the Little League record books.