A young girl at a Washington Nationals game tried to catch a ball thrown to her, but had it snatched by a grown man.
The incident has people up in arms over the theft.
The video was shared by Gina Hilliard, showing her daughter and her softball team excited to catch a ball thrown to them.
But that excitement is dashed when a man in a Juan Soto jersey steps in and uses his height to intercept the ball.
The incident happened during Youth Champions Day.
The Shenandoah Rec League 10U softball team was invited by the Nationals as part of the celebration.
At one point, right fielder, Joey Meneses threw the ball into the stands, seemingly for the young girl and teammates. But a grown man in a gray jersey steps in and puts his glove in front of the kids to catch the ball.
The children are visibly upset at the theft of the ball.
The video was shared by Hilliard last week, but resurfaced after it was re-shared by Jomboy Media.
It’s added to the discourse surrounding adults taking balls from children at these baseball games. Some past incidents are being compared to this one.
Just last month, another incident was caught on video of a man stealing a home run ball directly out of another teen’s glove on his 18th birthday.
In both incidents, the team involved responds to the controversy well.
Hilliard said the Nationals reached out and are sending gifts to her daughter.
That said, it still hasn’t stopped people from arguing about the situation.
The man who stole the ball from the young softball team hasn’t been identified, but there have been calls to ban him nonetheless.
Where that will lead, we can only wait and see.
