Girl takes electric fastball to Little League's big show
Out of nearly 9,000 kids to ever play in the Little League World Series, only 18 are girls, and this year, one American pitcher could wind up in a class by herself, CBS News' Elaine Quijano reports.
Mo'ne Davis' team, the Taney Dragons, made history as Philadelphia's first team to get to the World Series, and if they win, it would be another first for the history books - having a girl on a championship team.
Thirteen-year-old Mo'ne threw a six-strikeout, complete-game shutout at Sunday's regional championships.
Davis is only the fourth American girl to ever make it to the World Series. She regularly shuts down hitters with her electric fastball.
She thinks it's a big deal for her to be out there.
"Probably like a couple of years from now, there'll be a lot of girls here, and then it won't be just like all boys, so they'll have to build like another dorm for girls, so it'll be a huge impact if more girls start playing," she said.
Though she wants to see more girls play baseball, she's doesn't dwell on her gender.
"I mean, if it wasn't for my team, we wouldn't really be here right now," she said. "It's not just about me, like I can't fill all nine positions or bat all nine times, so you just have to see the whole reason why we're here is because we work well together and we work as a team."
"She is the only girl on our team, but we don't really think of her as a girl until she starts telling us all what to do, and then we're like, oh yeah," said center fielder Kai Cummings, 12.
Mo'ne's mom, LaKeisha McLean, said her daughter has never been shy on the field or in the batter's box.
"She thinks she's the mother of the team. She thinks she can tell everybody on the team what to do, what position to play, how far to go back out in the field," she said.
Coach Alex Rice sees that quality in Davis too.
"You won't see her fall apart on the mound," said Rice. "You can't get to her. It's a real poised group, and she's at the head of it."
Mo'ne also sees herself as a leader as well as a formidable opponent.
"Throwing 70 miles an hour," she said. "That's throwing like a girl."
For all the attention Mo'ne is getting for playing baseball, it's actually not even her primary sport. That would be basketball. And off the field and the court, this young athlete is an honor-roll student.