(Boston Globe) – A 13-year-old girl blessed with charisma, confidence, and, as the ace of her baseball team, a repertoire of pitches even a Red Sox pitcher might want to borrow every fifth day?
It’s Mo’ne Davis’s story, of course, and it’s now as familiar as it is irresistible. The lanky, bright-eyed righthander for Philadelphia’s Taney Dragons has used her 70-mile-per-hour fastball and quickness with a quip — she’s noted that her “curveball is like Clayton Kershaw’s and her fastball is like Mo’ne Davis’s” — to emerge as a genuine phenomenon at this year’s Little League World Series.
At this place and time, she’s a full-fledged media star, fan favorite — and even a ratings draw.
ESPN’s coverage of Taney’s 8-1 loss to Las Vegas Wednesday — a game started by Davis — was the highest-rated Little League World Series game in network history, earning a preliminary 3.4 rating.