She's the new phenom from Philly with a 70-mile an hour pitch and she just made history at 13 years old as the first girl to lead her team close to victory in the 2014 Little League World Series. The young lady is none other than Mo'Ne Davis who is taking the sports world by storm with her crazy pitching skills that allowed only two hits and an eight-strikeout shutout for her team at Williamsport, PA last weekend.
She may not be the first girl to play in the LLWS, but she's the first to lead her team this close to the championship. Her confidence, poise and calm demeanor speak to her maturity and leadership ability. She was able to focus and deliver in a high stakes game where audience members were loudly cheering her on and media outlets reporting her every move could've taken a lesser player out of their game as real distractions. But she is a rare gem and I hope we see more of her skill, grit and modesty in professional sports. Some adult players that earn millions of dollars a year could learn a lot from her sportsmanship.
I know that Jackie Robinson is smiling down on her and that team of kids from Philly, a city plagued by violence and high crime, and pondering how his barrier-breaking, history-making integration of major league baseball opened the imagingation and doors for so many. Could he have fathomed his legacy would reach across time, cultures, races and gender as he was being taunted in baseball stadiums across this country? And while I'm looking back to the "way makers" and heroes of yesterday, I need to also give a big shoutout to the women and "sheroes" who fought for Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in education and is best known for breaking down barriers in sports for women and girls.
