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NCAA covered this at their clinics this winter, so this is just NCAA speaking. Their intrepretation is that a strike cannot be called until the ball crosses the plane of the strike zone. If the batter is hit in front of the plate before it crosses the plate, she is awarded 1st base. The kicker here is that she still must make an attempt to get out of the way of the ball, and that is your judgement. If you rule she did not make an attempt to get out of the way, it is just a dead ball and ball on the batter. Then get ready to catch flack from both coaches. The trick is you have to sell your call really strong.
There was a lot of concern from umpires that we are penalizing the defense for doing exactly what they are supposed to do (throw the ball in the strike zone).
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