Jackson Free Press

Baseball legend Jackie Robinson once said, "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives."

The quote, which is inscribed on his tombstone, has fueled the little league team the Anderson Monarchs on its Civil Rights Barnstorming Tour.

In 1995, the Philadelphia (Pa.) Youth Organization, whose programs help disadvantaged kids in the city, chose 15 8-year-old boys from the Jackie Robinson League to represent the group in the Devlin Baseball League. The team's name, the Anderson Monarchs, pays tribute to the Kansas City Monarchs, the legendary Negro League team that Jackie Robinson played with before he broke the color barrier in 1947. The Monarchs made history as the first all-African American team to play in the Devlin League.

The Monarchs have maintained their reputation of being a powerhouse since 1995 and continue to play year-round in baseball, soccer and basketball.

Mo'ne Davis and the team are touring the eastern United States on a mission to learn about the Civil Rights Movement.

Davis, the 2014 Sports Illustrated Sports Kid of the Year, and the team stopped in Jackson halfway through the 23-day trip. They visited The Medgar Evers House and played an exhibition game against the local Richland JunkStarz June 27 at Jackson State University's Robert "Bob" Braddy Sr. Field.

The Monarchs put together an impressive 20-3 win. Davis switched between shortstop and third base, and then made the last three outs as the pitcher in the sixth inning. The Monarchs scored seven runs in the second inning and ran away with the game despite the JunkStarz fighting the stellar Pennsylvania team to the end. The host team awarded each Monarch player with a ring afterward.

The Civil Rights Barnstorming Tour covered more than 4,000 miles by July 10 when the team reached Secaucus, N.J. The tour had started in Philadelphia, Pa., and went to Washington, D.C., and other cities, including Jackson. Davis and head coach Steve Bandura recall meeting U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a civil-rights leader, in the nation's capital and visiting the historic 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., that the Ku Klux Klan bombed in 1963, killing four black girls. "It's one thing to read about it," Bandura said in an interview with the Jackson Free Press. "It's another thing to actually go out and see it."

Davis says the tour has affected her in a positive way. "It was cool because we actually got to stand in Medgar Evers' driveway," told the Jackson Free Press. She has made a name for herself as the first female player to win and pitch a shutout in the Little League World Series.

Davis, 14, is a baseball prodigy and is equally talented in basketball and soccer. She believes her future is in basketball and wants to play in the WNBA. She not only sets examples for young athletes but sets the bar high for all kids. She is an honor-roll student and will start her ninth-grade year at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia, Pa., this fall. Davis posed for photos with Mississippi Braves players, and girls lined up for her to sign their copy of her memoir, "Mo'ne Davis: Remember My Name" (HarperCollins, 2015, $16.99).