Not making any excuses for the ball thrower, but if you look at the aspect angle of the aircraft (and therefore its track over the water relative to where the thrower is) it is well off from the location of the ball thrower. This is a case of perspective. The ball is in the foreground and the much larger plane is in the background. You can measure this by comparing the ratio of the size of the ball (which looks very small as it leaves the man's hands) to the relative size of it compared to the wheels in the last picture. If you know the size of the wheels, you can tell how far the ball is from the plane. In my rough estimation, the ball is very far from the plane.
Additionally, the man is throwing the ball at a high angle. Again, due to the track of the plane, the ball would not come close.
