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This day in sports: Mo’ne Davis pitches in 2014 Little League World Series

Philadelphia's Mo'ne Davis pitches against Nashville at the 2014 Little League World Series.
(Gene J. Puskar / Associated Press)
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On this date in 2014, Mo’ne Davis of Philadelphia and Emma March of Canada were the 17th and 18th girls to play in the Little League World Series.

Davis pitched a two-hitter to help Philadelphia beat Nashville 4-0. She struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter.

March, who batted cleanup ahead of her brother Evan, went hitless in Canada’s 4-3 loss to Mexico.

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The 2020 Little League World Series has been canceled because of concerns over COVID-19. Local leagues are encouraged to play regular seasons.

Davis was the first girl to play for a U.S. team in South Williamsport, Pa., since 2004.

Here are more memorable games and outstanding sports performances from Aug. 15 through the years:

1948 — Babe Zaharias won the first of her three U.S. Women’s Open championships when she finished eight strokes ahead of runner-up Betty Hicks on the par-75 Atlantic City Country Club course in North Field, N.J. Zaharias shot a 78 in the final round for a total of 300.

1966 — Jose Torres of Puerto Rico kept his world light-heavyweight title when he won a unanimous 15-round decision over Eddie Cotton of Seattle at the Convention Center in Las Vegas. Torres successfully defended his crown three times in 1966 — against Cotton, Wayne Thornton and Chic Calderwood — but he would lose it in a fourth fight to Dick Tiger of Nigeria in a 15-round decision.

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1993 — Greg Norman saw his putt lip out on the second playoff hole at the PGA Championship, and the miss gave Paul Azinger the victory at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, leaving the Australian with another playoff defeat in a Grand Slam tournament. Azinger birdied four of the final seven holes to catch Norman in regulation at 12-under-par 272. Norman, despite winning his second British Open a month earlier, had lost three other majors in extra-hole play, including the 1984 U.S. Open, the 1987 Masters and the 1989 British Open.

1993 — Damon Hill of Great Britain, behind the wheel of a Williams-Renault, won the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring track in Budapest to join his late father, Graham Hill, as the first father-son winners of a Formula One race. Riccardo Patrese of Italy finished second in a Benetton-Ford, and Gerhard Berger of Austria was third in a Ferrari. Hill finished the 77-lap race on the 2½-mile track in 1 hour 47 minutes 39 seconds.

Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers will face Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies for the final Western Conference playoff spot.

1995 — Monica Seles returned to the women’s professional tennis tour after a 28-month hiatus with an overpowering 6-0, 6-3 win over Kimberly Po at the Canadian Open in Toronto. Seles had not played in a match since she was stabbed in the back by a spectator during a match in Hamburg, Germany, in April of 1993.

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2005 — Phil Mickelson posted a dramatic finish when he flopped a chip out of deep rough and landed it two feet from the pin for an easy birdie that gave him a one-stroke victory in the PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J. It was the second major tournament victory for the popular left-hander, and it brought to a conclusion a tournament that lasted five days because of weather delays. Steve Elkington of Australia and Thomas Bjorn of Denmark ended up in a second-place tie.

2010 — Martin Kaymer of Germany won the PGA Championship in a three-hole playoff with Bubba Watson at Whistling Straits in Sheboygan, Wis. The drama of the tournament, though, surrounded Dustin Johnson, who, with a one-stroke lead and playing the final hole, was penalized two strokes for unknowingly grounding his club in a tiny patch of sand on the edge of a bunker well right of the 18th fairway. The two-shot penalty dropped him into a tie for fifth place.

Would the near trade of Joc Pederson and Ross Stripling from the Dodgers to the Angels for Luis Rengifo have had an impact this season?

2011 — Jim Thome swatted his 600th home run in the seventh inning after hitting No. 599 an inning earlier to power the Minnesota Twins past the Detroit Tigers 9-6 at Comerica Park. The two home runs made Thome the eighth player in baseball history to hit reach the 600 mark. The No. 600 ball landed in the Tigers’ bullpen behind the left-field fence and later was presented to the slugger, who gave it to his young son Landon.

2012 — Felix Hernandez pitched the first perfect game in Mariners history and the 23rd overall in baseball when he beat the Tampa Bay Rays 1-0 before 21,889 at Safeco Field in Seattle. Nicknamed “King Felix” by the Seattle fans, Hernandez struck out 12 batters, including five of the last six. It was the third perfect game pitched in the big leagues that season. The first two came from Matt Cain of the San Francisco Giants against the Houston Astros and Philip Humber of the Chicago White Sox against the Mariners.

SOURCES: The Times, Associated Press

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