By Aiden Smith, Sports Writer
On Major League Baseball’s Opening Night game between the Washington Nationals and the New York Mets, Nats superstar right fielder Juan Soto blasted a 428 foot home run to the second deck. This booming shot was caught on the fly by Jack Kolsky, a 7th Grader at Herndon Middle School, who plans to attend HHS. Kolsky instantly became the star of the game as he was later posted on the Nationals official Instagram account as well as numerous baseball sites.
The Stinger sat down with Jack to talk about his amazing catch and his experience ever since. Jack has been playing baseball for a long time. “I started just playing in my backyard when I was 4 and have played ever since.” Jack played for Reston-Herndon Little League and currently plays travel baseball. Jack described what was going through his mind as the ball was flying towards him. “At first I saw it and all I was thinking was don’t drop it, don’t drop it, and then all of a sudden it was in my glove.” Kolsky was greeted with high fives from other fans and most especially his dad who was ecstatic when Jack made the catch. Jack said catching the ball was not very different from catching a fly ball in a game. “I just moved a couple steps and made the catch. It’s amazing to see myself on these big platforms (social media, news), and a lot of kids dream of having this moment of fame.”
Jack’s favorite moment since the catch was his news interview as well as, “all my friends coming up to me at school and congratulating me.” Kolsky has also been a huge fan of Herndon's very own varsity baseball team, and has attended many home games this season. Kolsky said he’s, “extremely excited for a chance to play for Herndon, and would love the opportunity to even play ball at a university in the future.”
Kolksy’s catch shows that you never know what could happen at a ballgame, and hopefully you'll get to see Jack at Al McCullock Field in the future, as a Fighting Hornet.
