The young boy who lost his baseball to the ‘Phillies Karen’ has spoken of his devastation at giving it to the woman that went viral for yelling at his dad.

Lincoln Feltwell’s father, Drew, managed to snag a home run ball ahead of his son’s 10th birthday during Friday’s Phillies-Marlins game – but was bullied by a woman into handing it over as she angrily told him the ball belonged to her.

The family has now given their version of events about the story that has captivated people across the United States for all the wrong reasons.

‘I wasn’t very happy that we had to give it to her, but we can’t win,’ Lincoln sadly told NBC 10 Philadelphia. ‘She was going to get it anyways.’

Lincoln later got to meet Harrison Bader – the Philadelphia Phillies player who hit the home run that sparked the exchange – after the game and the MLB star gave him a bat to make up for the lost ball.

‘I’m happy I got to get something else. It was very, very fun getting to meet Bader,’ he added.

The ‘Phillies Karen’ has still managed to remain unidentified, despite thousands on social media desperately hunting to find out who she is. On Saturday, a woman was forced to deny she was the culprit after a case of mistaken identity led to her Facebook being overrun with angry messages,

Lincoln’s father, Drew Feltwell, said that he simply wanted the woman to ‘go away’ as he tried to be a role model for his son. As for the backlash, he said he doesn’t want her life to be ‘ruined’ by the incident.

‘She brought that on herself,’ Drew said. ‘I don’t want her life ruined but she brought that on. She’s going to pay for that and it is not by hand. I don’t wish any harm on her. Maybe she was in the moment. I’m not going to defend her.’

As for what was going through his head during the confrontation, Drew explained: ‘Just trying to set an example of how to de-escalate a situation in front of my son, I guess,’ he told the network.

Feltwell, who attended the game with his wife, son and daughter, added that he was ‘still in disbelief’ at the woman’s actions and that he apologized to his son for handing the ball over.

‘I thought I had accomplished this great thing,’ Feltwell said. ‘But she just wouldn’t stop.’

While the woman got the home run ball hit by Bader, she was ultimately booed out of the stadium and was slammed on social media. Nonetheless, Feltwell said that he partially regretted taking the ball away from his son.

‘I felt like super dad putting that ball in his glove and giving him a hug,’ he said. ‘Putting the ball in his glove and then taking it back out killed me.’

A different angle of the incident later emerged, showing that ‘Phillies Karen’ actually confronted multiple fans – and flipped off the crowd in Miami. The moment initially went viral on Friday when FanDuel Sports Network Florida cameras showed Feltwell and the woman clashing.

‘That was ours,’ she yelled at him.

After he gestured to his son, who he’d given the ball to, the man tried to explain that she didn’t actually catch the souvenir. However, that answer didn’t suffice for her.

‘No, you took it from me!’ she yelled in response. ‘You took it from me! That was in my hands. That was in my hands.’

At that point, he took the baseball from his disappointed son and handed it to the woman.

Feltwell told NBC10 that his family wound up ‘having a good night because of of good people.’

He added of ‘Phillies Karen,’ though: ‘I hope that ball means a lot to her.’

The Marlins also made amends with Feltwell and his family by offering them a gift bag.

The incident was just the latest in a series of fan disputes across American sports, including two men quarrelling over a ball at a New York Mets game and the notorious incident at the US Open in which a man snatched a tennis pro’s hat that was intended for a young boy.