Little League Phenom Mo'ne Davis Makes A Splash on Sports Illustrated Cover

Little League World Series phenom Mo’ne Davis throws like a girl — and that’s no insult. The 13-year-old pitcher has become the first Little Leaguer to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and she recently logged eight strikeouts and a shut out in a 4-0 Mid-Atlantic win over the Southeast on Friday. She is the first girl to ever throw a shut-out in LLWS play.

Only the 18th girl to have ever played in the LLWS, she also became the sixth girl to put up a hit in the series’ history with an RBI single on Sunday. Despite her accolades, the 5’4” eighth grader has a different sports dream: to play basketball at the University of Connecticut.

Davis says considering her basketball goals, she never dreamed that she would make a name for herself on the diamond. The spotlight surrounding her will also take some getting used to. “People were like, 'Oh, there are going to be people running up to you taking pictures’ and I thought it was going to be a bunch of little kids,” she said. “But it’s grown-ups! And that’s, like, creepy.”

One thing Davis doesn’t need to be shy about is her 70-mph fastball. When former MLB All-Star and current ESPN analyst Barry Larkin asked her about her pitching style, Davis responded, “I throw my curveball like Clayton Kershaw's and my fastball like Mo'Ne Davis.”

Advancing in the LLWS, her team will face the West Regional Champions on Wednesday.