Many people might not know but Hailey Welch - a.k.a 'Hawk Tuah' girl - has a heart of gold amid mounting criticism from Mets fans for her appearance on the mound prior to a home game against the A's. 

The social media sensation was invited to appear on the mound and throw the first pitch before Thursday's game - a 7-6 loss for New York - despite some wondering what on earth she was doing at a baseball game. 

A Mets beat reporter for Newsday also revealed that he wasn't even allowed to refer to Welch by her famous online nickname either. 

Now, Welch has replied to the backlash after her first significant public appearance since become an overnight sensation on social media. 

She told her roughly 229,600 followers on X: 'So I guess some of the baseball community wasn't too happy to see me yesterday.

'The main reason I went to the game was to spread awareness and donate to America's vet dogs which pairs dogs with war veterans for a forever home. 

'Join me in donating to this amazing charity. I miss ya already Buddy,' 

Welch later replied to her post with a link to the non-profit she was raising awareness for at the Mets game: 'Vetdogs.org.'

People on X were quick to praise her for speaking up. 

'Ironically, you made a semi-bawdy joke and went viral for it. But honestly, every single other interaction I have seen, you have been a positive and uplifting season, I wish you nothing but success,' a fan commented under Welch's post. 

'And you're a dog love, so that's an automatic win.'

Someone else said: 'Jealously is as horrible thing, keep up the good work!' 

'Just keep doing you. You're doing fine,' another fan chimed in. 

As many of you know, Welch went viral after giving a graphic demonstration of how to give good oral sex in a street interview filmed in June in Nashville.