No matter what happens in Mo’Ne Davis’s second Little League World Series start, scheduled for Wednesday night against Las Vegas, her performance in Williamsport can be considered nothing less than a rousing success.

Davis’s complete game shutout win in Saturday’s opener marked a plethora of firsts for girls in the Little League World Series. And in Monday’s game, the 13-year-old showed that her skills go well beyond the mound, as she notched an RBI single and played three different positions— third base, shortstop and first base — in an 8–7 victory.

And yet, during Monday’s game, ESPN announcer Karl Ravech still felt it necessary to explain to audiences that “Davis is not a gimmick.” As one of my colleagues in the Wisconsin sports writing world, Nicole Haase, reminded me, this is a constant for women in sports. The few women who do cross the gender barriers and earn spots on men’s teams must not only prove their ability to their teammates, coaches and opponents, but they must also prove to fans they are something more than publicity stunt.

This, of course, is the big reason why Davis’s story is so inspirational. It’s one thing for a 13-year-old girl to waltz into Williamsport and throw 70 MPH fastballs right by the best baseball playing boys in the country — tossing in some clutch hitting and utility woman versatility for good measure — but she’s doing so while navigating a morass of institutionalized sexism from coaches, parents, fellow players, and fans parroting what they’ve heard from their older role models. She’s doing this in a world where, as Emma Span wrote for the New York Times, most girls who show baseball talent are heavily pressured to move to softball. And she’s doing despite the fact that many males don’t view her as a legitimate athlete at all.

In case you hadn’t heard, Mo’ne Davis isn’t the only girl to appear in this year’s Little League World Series, either. Emma March hit cleanup and pitched in relief for the Canadian representatives from South Vancouver. Although March experienced struggles in LLWS play, she did throw a no-hitter in the British Columbia provincial tournament and was one of the team’s best hitters throughout its journey to Williamsport.