HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — Four years after she won the hearts of baseball fans around the world by becoming the first girl to win a game, and pitch a shutout, in the Little League World Series, Mo’ne Davis is heading to Hampton University to play softball.
The three-star athlete, who also plays basketball and soccer at the private Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia, picked Hampton over several schools including Penn, UMass, Bethune-Cookman and Coppin State.
She’s continued to play baseball in addition to softball (and even considered playing Division I college basketball), but said in an October interview with The Undefeated that she ultimately aspires to be a broadcaster.
Davis’ parents told the Philadelphia Tribune that Hampton’s communications department was a key factor in her decision.
Davis landed the cover of Sports Illustrated, and while she wasn’t the first girl to play in the Little League World Series (she was the second), she was the first girl to pitch. With a 70 mph fastball, Davis took her Philadelphia Taney Dragons to within two wins of the U.S. championship in Williamsport.
5 million people watched her on TV on August 20, 2014, setting a single-game Little League record for ESPN, and her Taney Dragons jersey is now in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
She’ll start at Hampton next fall.