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I agree that a body turn and pulling hands is not likely a swing. But, often when this happens, the batter will actually defensively strike at the pitch - and that is a swing.
The direction the barrel of the bat is pointing is an aid in deciding whether it was a swing or not. Fed does not do a great job of explainging what to look for in the rules book - "Did the swing carry the barrel in front of the batter and in the direction of the infield?" Fed's softball umpire manual does a much better job - it was copied, by agreement, from ASA. From memory, there are four areas of concern:
1-rolling the wrists
2-swing through and draw back
3-bat in front of the body
4-makes an attempt to hit the pitch
The vast majority, in excess of 95% if memory serves me right, of check swings are actually swings according to a study done by one of the Big Ten schools examining major league baseball players given this or similar criteria. In this particular area, I see no difference between baseball and softball.
Steve M
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