[Manny A]

Originally Posted by Tru_in_Blu

HS Varsity game. Lefty batter tries bunting (not slapping but it shouldn't matter).

She bunts and the ball goes into the air only a couple of feet above the batter's head. She starts going to first but cannot avoid running into the ball as it's coming down and the ball hits her in the left shoulder/upper chest area.

I have a dead ball and the batter out for coming into contact with a fair batted ball.

Okay, two rules come into play here:

8-2: The batter-runner shall be called out when:

ART. 7 . . . The batter-runner interferes with a fielder attempting to make an initial play, interferes with a fielder attempting to throw the ball, intentionally interferes with a thrown ball while out of the batter's box, makes contact with a fair batted ball before reaching first base, or (F.P.) interferes with a dropped third strike. If this interference, in the umpire's judgment, is an obvious attempt to prevent a double play, the runner closest to home plate shall be called out. A batterrunner being hit with a thrown ball does not necessarily constitute interference.

And then there's:

2-25 ART. 1 . . . Foul Ball. A foul ball is a batted ball that:
a. settles or is touched on or over foul territory between home and first base, or between home and third base;
b. bounds past first or third base on or over foul territory;
c. first falls to the ground or is first touched on or over foul territory beyond first or third base;
d. while on or over foul territory, touches the person of an umpire, a player or any object foreign to the natural ground;
e. while over foul territory, a runner interferes with a defensive player attempting to field a batted ball;
f. touches the batter or the bat in the batter's hand(s) a second time while the batter is within the batter's box;
g. goes directly from the bat to any part of the catcher's body or equipment and is caught by another fielder. (5-1-1d(2))

So which was it? Did the batted ball come down and touch the batter, or did the batter run into the batted ball? There's a difference, and in one, the batter's box is relevant, while in the other it's not. You said the ball hits her, which makes it sound like this met the criterion under the Foul Ball definition.

But if it really was a case of "player contacts ball" versus "ball contacts player", then you should have just told the coach, "Coach, the batter's box is irrelevant when it comes to the batter making contact with her batted ball. She's either out if she touches the ball was in fair territory, or it's a foul ball if she touches it in foul territory." I judged that the ball was in fair territory.