[brandda]

Select 12 tournament semifinals this past weekend, bottom of the fifth, home team at bat, runner on third, one out and down by one run. Pitcher brings a pitch inside which the batter swings at. The ball hits the batter's hands and then dribbles into fair territory. Runner from third starts to come home and probably would have scored. I called dead ball - strike one, returned the runner to third, and the coaches for the home team went nuts.

I explained to them that it could not be a hit batsman because he was swinging and that it could not be an infield hit because it came in contact with his body in the box so it had to be a dead ball. We got through the usual "hands are part of the bat" argument and went on but I would like to ask the forum a couple of questions:

1) Was the call right? They argued loud and long (almost had to toss a coach before we got things calmed down) that it should have been a hit, but I just can't see how.

2) Was this a strike or a foul ball? I can see arguments for both since the batter was standing in foul territory when he got hit, but again since it did not hit the bat, I don't see how it could be a foul ball. It did not matter for this count, but it would have if there had been two strikes.

3) Does anybody else have trouble with these bats that have the rubber going way up towards the barrel? These things drive me nuts because I have a hard time telling foul balls sometimes when I do not hear that distinctive "tink" sound. Any advice on dealing with this would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.