Kinley Rasmus struck out six batters for Phenix City, Alabama, in a Monday win over West Chester, Pennsylvania, at the Little League World Series, pushing her tournament total to 14 strikeouts and tying Mo'ne Davis's record for the most strikeouts by a girl in the event's history.
The 12-year-old right-hander matched Davis's single-game mark of eight strikeouts four days earlier, in a scoreless six-inning shutout of Tennessee on Aug. 21 that sent Phenix City deeper into the bracket. In between, she went 2-for-2 with a walk and an RBI triple in an elimination-round win over Bonita, California, on Aug. 23, batting second and playing shortstop on days she isn't pitching.
A record two generations in the making
Davis set the mark in 2014, when her Philadelphia team's run to the U.S. semifinal — and her own shutout of a boys' team — made her a national name and a symbol of girls breaking into a sport long dominated by boys. Rasmus's version of that story carries its own family thread: her father, Cory Rasmus, and her uncle, Colby Rasmus, both played for Phenix City in the 1999 Little League World Series, reaching the U.S. final on the same South Williamsport fields she now pitches on. Cory Rasmus went on to pitch in the major leagues for the Los Angeles Angels and Atlanta Braves; Colby Rasmus spent a decade as an MLB outfielder.
Rasmus throws a fastball and curveball, both shaped by her father's coaching, according to Yahoo Sports's profile of the pitcher. She carried a .750 batting average through Alabama's regional tournament before the team reached South Williamsport, and pitched a complete-game, 3-hit shutout to clinch the regional title.
Her run has drawn national attention, including from MLB.com, which has tracked both strikeout outings against the Davis mark, and Bleacher Report, which has followed her box scores game by game.
Phenix City's win over West Chester keeps Alabama alive in the U.S. bracket at the Little League Baseball World Series, which runs through Aug. 30 at the Howard J. Lamade and Volunteer stadium complex in South Williamsport. Whether Rasmus gets another start before the tournament's final games will depend on Phenix City's next matchup and Little League's pitch-count rules, which limit how often young arms can take the mound.
