Mo’ne Davis doesn’t remember everything from her shutout victory against Nashville in the Little League World Series in 2014. The Philadelphia native only recently rewatched the historic game in March.
Davis revealed as much on Inquirer Live at Lunch Monday while discussing her team’s LLWS run to the brink of the U.S. championship game, how life has changed in nearly six years since 2014 and how she is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic in Philadelphia after finishing her freshman year at Hampton University.
“That was the first time I watched the game fully through,” Davis said. “I didn’t remember [the first through fifth innings] at all. The last inning is the one I remember the most.”
The 2014 Little League World Series catapulted Davis into stardom as the first African-American girl to play in the organization’s history, and she didn’t disappoint. Her most notable performance for South Philadelphia’s Taney Dragons came against Nashville in a shutout effort. At 13, Davis pitched a complete game, struck out eight batters and allowed just two hits.
Davis is now playing softball at Hampton University. As a freshman, she started all 19 games at second base while batting .333 with eight RBIs and five stolen bases. Hampton had one of its best starts in program history with a 15-4 record.
“Next year we will make those numbers increase,” Davis said.
Her first dream was to play basketball at UConn, where Maya Moore was her favorite player growing up. The NCAA notably cited UConn for minor violations for head coach Geno Auriemma contacting Davis during the 2014 LLWS.
Now at 18 years old, Davis enjoys the comforts of attending a historically black college/university (HBCU) and pursuing her undergraduate degree in communications.
“Now that I go to an HBCU, I always encourage my friends from high school to look at an HBCU because you’ll actually enjoy it,” she said. “I just have a lot of fun being around people that you can relate to but different backgrounds, it’s pretty cool. I would say my favorite thing is definitely homecoming. That’s just a different atmosphere.”
Read the entire original article by Damichael Cole.
