FOR THE WEEK OF AUG. 25, 2014

Strong arm: Mo’ne Davis, 13, becomes a national baseball star with her blazing fastball

America has a new sports celebrity who's 13, has waist-length braids and throws a fastball into the strike zone at more than 70 m.p.h. Mo'ne Davis of Philadelphia is the first girl to pitch a shutout in the Little League World Series and last week became the first Little Leaguer on a Sports Illustrated cover. The eighth-grade star, whose name is pronounced MOE-naay, is the only girl on the Taney Dragons. It won state and regional championships to become the first Philadelphia team to reach the Little League championship round. The Dragons were eliminated last Thursday night in a 6-5 loss to a Chicago team.

Mo'ne was one of two girls in this year’s series at Williamsport, Pa., where 17 other girls competed earlier. But until she struck out eight batters as Philadelphia beat Nashville by 4-0 on Aug, 15, no female Little Leaguer had thrown a shutout or been a winning pitcher at the Little League World Series. "Davis has worked hard at her craft, and it shows," New York Times Scott Cacciola writes. The five-foot, four-inch teen has thrown overhand since age 7. She also plays basketball and soccer, and is an honor student at a private academy.

The young prodigy's athletic skill reopens a pesky question: Why can't women play in Major League Baseball? "Someday, there will be a woman in the majors" and the pioneer is likely to be a pitcher, predicts ESPN.com writer Jim Caple. At the SBNation sports blog, Steven Goldman writes: "A female major leaguer is something that many of us look forward to seeing." A USA Baseball National Team of women up to age 40 competes next month in Japan at an eight-team World Cup. But at the high school level, only 1,259 girls were on varsity teams nationwide in 2013, compared with 474,791 boys.

Mo'ne says: "More girls should join boys' teams so it could be a tradition and it wouldn't be so special."

Her stepdad says: "She handles it so well. I'm speechless sometimes. I just want her to have fun and for this to be something for her to remember always." – Mark Williams, construction worker

Major leaguer says: "Props to Mo'ne Davis for dealing today. Awesome performance." – Dexter Fowler, Houston Astros center fielder, in tweet

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Common Core State Standard
SL.CCS.1/2/3/4 Grades 6-12: An essay of a current news event is provided for discussion to encourage participation, but also inspire the use of evidence to support logical claims using the main ideas of the article. Students must analyze background information provided about a current event within the news, draw out the main ideas and key details, and review different opinions on the issue. Then, students should present their own claims using facts and analysis for support.