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Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA
Does the rule say "stationary" or does it just say if the bat hits the ball a second time on or over fair territory?
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Unlike ASA, there never was, nor is there a rule about the ball hitting the bat. The rule only addressed a bat hitting the ball a second time. Actually it doesn't matter if the bat is loose or still in the batter's hands (as long as batter is no longer in batter's box). Previous years the batter had to
intentionally hit the ball a second time; in 2006 just the act of hitting the ball a second time is interference. This now matches ASA ruling, but the NFHS went further and applied the contact to foul territority if the umpire judged that the ball had a chance to become fair.
The
ball hits bat part of the equation comes from an interpretation which is expressed in the NFHS casebook. 7.4.11 "after laying down the bat, the ball hits the bat in fair territory - ruling Live Ball." Or "drops the bat and the bat,
while still moving, hit the ball - Ruling Dead Ball."
So we can assume, in the first example, that the bat was stationary when hit by the ball. IMO, if the bat is rolling away from the ball, and the ball catches up and contacts the bat I will still rule Live Ball.
WMB