ILLEGALLY BATTED BALL
QUESTION: In high school, baseball and softball, batter bunts the ball fair and while advancing to first base the ball contacts the bat, still in the batter’s hands, a second time. Does ball remain in play? Is batter called out?
ANSWER: Dead ball, batter is called out. This is considered intentional contact with a fair batted ball because batter was out of box and is responsible for control of bat. If he/ she remained in the box and bat/ball contact occurred, this would result in a foul ball call (BB- Rule 8, Sec. 4, Art. 1, d; SB- Rule 8, Sec. 4, Art. 13).
QUESTION: Batter steps on part of home plate during his/ her swing and miss the pitch. Is batter called out for illegally batted ball infraction?
ANSWER: No, despite being out of the box and partially contacting the plate, this is ruled a strike only. Batter would be called out only if there was contact with pitch while stepping on the plate (BB- Rule 7, Sec. 3, Art. 2; SB- Rule 7, Sec. 4, Art. 8).
