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Cecilone: "Batter's hands separated"
This is your key! If the hands are separated, the bat cannot be swing, it can only be pushed at the ball.
And if you are pushing at the ball, no matter how hard, that is a bunt.
If the batter squares to bunt, her hands will normally be separated (though I admit that some very experience bunters will bunt with both hands together, but in the middle of the bat). If the batter "slap hits" out of the bunt stance, her hands will come back together so that her wrists can break on the swing.
If the batter is running forward, she may be trying to push a bunt, or may be trying to slap hit. Again, watch for the position of the hands.
Finally, if you are working a game of (relatively) experienced players, and you have a batter that runs forward and appears to bunt with two strikes on her you can assume that she knows what she is doing and she is not trying to bunt the 3rd strike.
I learned that the hard way. H.S. senior, team's lead-off batter, ran forward and (I thought) bunted foul. I called her out. She looked at me incredulously. That was a slap-hit she said. Do you think that I am dumb enough to bunt a third strike? That was the last time that I made that mistake.
WMB
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