Former Little League star Mo'ne Davis will try out for the new women's pro baseball league
The former Little League phenom who at 13 became the first girl to record a victory — and a shutout — in the Little League World Series, will be one of more than 600 players to try out for the Women's Professional Baseball League set to launch next year, the league said.
Davis will join other women's baseball stars such as Kelsie Whitmore, the first woman to sign a professional contract with an MLB-partnered league, at the tryouts, which will be held Aug. 22-25 in Washington.
The WPBL is aiming to launch in the summer of 2026 with six teams and would be the first U.S. pro league for women since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League — depicted in the classic film 'A League of Their Own' — dissolved in 1954. Next month's tryouts will determine the 150 players who will be selected for the league's inaugural draft in October.
Davis' rise to stardom came swiftly in 2014 when she delivered 70 mph fastballs for Philadelphia's Taney Youth Baseball Association during that year's Little League World Series.
AUSL is the newest swing at professional softball — and it continues to grow after 3 sellouts in RosemontShe became an instant inspiration for fans young and old. She appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, has her jersey displayed in the Baseball Hall of Fame and was named Sports Kid of the Year by Sports Illustrated Kids.
Davis graduated in 2023 from Hampton University, where she was an infielder on the softball team, and has provided commentary on ESPN for Little League games.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
MLB games today: Schedule, times, how to watch for July 25
Here is the full Major League Baseball schedule for July 25 and how to watch all the games. Or see our sortable MLB schedule to filter by team or division. MLB schedule today All times Eastern and accurate as of Friday, July 25, 2025, at 4:41 a.m. Watch MLB games all season long with Fubo (free trial). MLB scores, results MLB scores for July 25 games are available on Here's how to access today's results: See scores, results for all the games listed above. See MLB Scores, results from July 24
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Venezuelan team denied entry into U.S. for Little League's senior tournament
One of Little League's international tournaments will be played without its planned field. The Cacique Mara team from Maracaibo, Venezuela, was denied visas into the United States and will be forced to miss the Senior League World Series for players between 13 and 16 years old, Little League confirmed in a statement to South Carolina's WSPA. A team from Victoria, Mexico, will reportedly take Venezuela's spot as the tournament's Latin American team in Easley, South Carolina. The full statement: 'Little League® International has been notified that the Cacique Mara Little League team from Venezuela was unfortunately unable to obtain the appropriate visas to travel to the Senior League Baseball World Series in Easley, South Carolina. While this is extremely disappointing, especially to these young athletes, the Little League International Tournament Committee has made the decision to advance the second place team, Santa Maria de Aguayo Little League (Victoria, Mexico), to participate in the Senior League Baseball World Series and ensure the Latin America Region is represented in the tournament and that the players, coaches, and families from Mexico are able to have a memorable World Series experience.' The Senior League World Series is held each year in Easley, with six teams from the United States and six international teams. A different team from Maracaibo won the tournament last year. The Venezuelan team was reportedly deemed ineligible for visas due to a June executive order from President Donald Trump that limits entry into the U.S. from certain countries. Venezuela is one of the countries that currently faces a limited ban. The Venezuelan team, which was attempting to procure its visas in Bogota, Colombia, posted a statement on Instagram calling the decision a "mockery" via a machine translation. Team Venezuela beat the Mexican team it's being replaced by last month in the Latin American regional tournament. The president of the team had his own reaction, as translated by World Baseball: 'The players are demoralized. All they know how to do is play baseball. They want to compete and honor Venezuela and Latin America. They don't pose any threat; they're 15-year-old kids who want to win the World Cup,' said Kendry Gutiérrez, president of the Cacique Mara Little League, the Maracaibo, Zulia-based league that sponsored the team. While the Senior League World Series is not a high-profile tournament, an international team being denied entry into the U.S. will be cause for concern for some, given how many international sporting events the country is set to host over the next three years, including the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and the Summer Olympics in 2028. Trump's executive order grants exceptions to 'any athlete or member of an athletic team, including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate relatives, traveling for the World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting event as determined by the Secretary of State.' However, that leaves room for uncertainty as to what constitutes a "major" sporting event and turns Secretary of State Marco Rubio into a significant athletic authority. Earlier this month, a Cuban women's volleyball team was denied visas into Puerto Rico under similar circumstances.
Washington Post
3 hours ago
- Washington Post
Rangers hope to flip World Series title script, and finish this regular season how they started '23
ARLINGTON, Texas — Chris Young is hoping that the Texas Rangers can flip the script from 2023, when they won their only World Series title . The Rangers would like to finish this regular season the way they started that championship one two years ago. Texas (53-50) went into its day off Thursday, after a three-game series sweep of the Athletics and a week before the trade deadline, with 59 games left. 'I look back on 2023 and we went 40-20 in our first 60 games. And after that, you know, the next 102 we were two games under .500,' Young, the team's president of baseball operations, said before the opener of that series against the A's. 'Every season has a different ebb and flow to it. And my hope is that the next 62 games are our best 62 games of our season. If that's the case, then we'll look back and say, hey, the first half of the season wasn't as much fun as we had hoped, but it was all worth it to get where we wanted to go.' While third in the American League West behind Houston and Seattle, the Rangers were only 1 1/2 games out of the league's final wild-card spot. They won two of three games at the division-leading Astros before the All-Star break, and are 5-1 since, including a series win over AL Central leader Detroit. There are three games at home this weekend against Atlanta and then three in Los Angeles against the Angels before the trade deadline. Texas is 12-6 in July and averaged 5.6 runs per game, nearly two runs a game more than in their first 85 games before that. The pitching and defense have been good all season, with the staff's MLB-best 3.16 ERA and a majors-low 32 fielding errors. The Rangers have allowed two runs or fewer in their last seven games, matching the longest such streak in Texas history. 'If we can continue the progress we've shown over the last several weeks ... it's going to determine a lot,' Young said about what the team might do before the deadline. 'So not to put any more pressure on anything, it's just the reality of this point in the season, and we're looking up in the standings.' Corey Seager, in the fourth season of his $325 million, 10-year deal with Texas, has a 24-game on-base streak. He has hit .356 with eight homers and 22 RBIs in what is the second-longest active streak in the majors, behind the 29 by Milwaukee's Christian Yelich. The two-time World Series MVP shortstop had a 30-game streak last year and a 26-gamer in 2023, making him the only player with streaks of at least 24 games in each of those seasons. Right-hander Jacob deGrom (10-2, 2.28 ERA) was the only Rangers player picked as an All-Star, but the team gave right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (7-3, 1.58) the $100,000 All-Star bonus from his contract even after he was left off the American League squad. Eovaldi is set to start Friday against the Braves, his first game since July 13, when he went 7 2/3 innings in a 5-1 win at Houston before the break. The 35-year-old right-hander was scratched because of back stiffness from last Sunday's game against Oakland, and a matchup with AL All-Star starter Tarik Skubal. The 37-year-old deGrom missed most of the past two seasons after Tommy John surgery, and his 118 1/3 innings pitched are already his most since 2019, when he won his second consecutive NL Cy Young Award with the New York Mets. DeGrom went to Atlanta last week but opted against pitching in the All-Star Game, and the Rangers intentionally gave him a nine-day break between starts. 'If we can keep him out there and keep getting the best version of Jacob for another 10 or so starts, it's a great thing for our club,' Young said. 'He's feeling really good, and we're doing our best to try to protect him from a health and recovery standpoint.' Josh Jung is 4 for 8 with a homer and four runs scored in three games since being recalled from Triple-A Round Rock, where the third baseman was sent July 2 when in a bad slump. Jon Gray made his season debut Wednesday against the A's, pitching two innings in relief for the win. The right-hander, who can be a starter or reliever, suffered a fractured forearm when struck by a comeback liner in a spring training game. Joc Pederson, the offseason addition out since May 25 because of a broken right hand, could re-join the team next week after a rehab assignment. ___ AP MLB:
