This situation happened in a Little League game the other day. Batter squares to bunt and bunts the ball in fair territory. While still in the batter's box and holding the bat, he unintentionally stikes the ball again and the ball lands and stays in fair territory. I ruled the ball dead and sent all the runners back to their respective bases. Is this the correct ruling?

This falls under 6.05(h). The runners are returned to their bases as the ball is dead on the 2nd contact but you missed one important thing... the batter is out!

WRONG
 

The batter is not out!

The correct call is DEAD BALL.

Then, if the batter is still in the box, (as you stated)and the second hit is unintentional (as you stated) the ball is ruled FOUL BALL and runners return to last base touched. This happens fairly often when a bunted ball bounces straight down, hits the plate, and bounces straight back up into the held bat, and the batter hasn't moved yet.

Otherwise, if the batter is out of the box, or the second hit is intentional, then, yes, the batter is ruled out.

I'm looking for rule reference but haven't found it yet...

Aaah found it in FED/NFHS 8-4-1d, Note, and Exception.

I'll look for OBR also...

[Edited by DownTownTonyBrown on May 18th, 2004 at 01:22 PM]

For "Uunintentionally" hitting the ball twice?? Mabey intentionally!

Crow for lunch
 

Well... I'm eating crow.... and it's lunch time too! Tastes like $@@##&*% crow too!

I don't see a similar exception in the Ordinary Baseball Rules.

6.05h A batter is out when
(h) After hitting or bunting a fair ball, his bat hits the ball a second time in fair territory. The ball is dead and no runners may advance. If the batter runner drops his bat and the ball rolls against the bat in fair territory and, in the umpire's judgment, there was no intention to interfere with the course of the ball, the ball is alive and in play; ...

7.09b It is interference by a batter or a runner when:
(b) After hitting or bunting a fair ball, his bat hits the ball a second time in fair territory. The ball is dead and no runners may advance. If the batter runner drops his bat and the ball rolls against the bat in fair territory and, in the umpire's judgment, there was no intention to interfere with the course of the ball, the ball is alive and in play;

Perhaps someone with some more rules guidance (Jaska/Roder, etc.) can guide us. Little League is probably using OBR and not NFHS. So perhaps out is the correct call. Personnally I would have done just like you did, Sneiderer.

I think I'll learn something here... bring it on.

If the ball hits the bat a second time while the batter is holding the bat over fair territory, you have Interference. (need to know number of outs & runners for the ruling) The batter is responsible for not hitting the ball a second time. Yes it was an accident, but like Interference, the event is the event. The bat was in the control of the batter on this play. You can not apply the rules of a loose bat rolling around on the ground.

If the ball hits the bat a second time while the batter is holding the bat in foul territory, then you have a Foul Ball.

So to be clear...
 

This is a dead ball when playing FED Rules and batter interference (w/ batter out) playing OBR, BR, et. all.?

Read 6.05(h) VERY carefully:

6.05h A batter is out when
(h) After hitting or bunting a fair ball, his <b>bat hits the ball</b> a second time <b>in fair territory</b>.



If the BALL hits the BAT - nothing - foul ball.

If the BAT hits the BALL - then you can do something <b>IF</b> it happened over fair territory.

Given that the convention for a batter getting hit by a batted ball while still in the box (even the fair part) is FOUL, then you probably should call it foul then too.

6.05(h) states "if BR drops his bat..."

This is what I've got...BR has not dropped his bat, DEAD BALL, runners return to bases, BR is out. Now, if BR has dropped his bat and the contact is in fair territory, I got nothing.

I think ball hitting bat, bat hitting ball is immaterial. i.e. thick grass in front of the dish, weak bunt and ball stops on the dirt, bat rolls into ball which is not moving vs. bat on the ground in FB territory and the ball is bouncing like a football and hits the bat...

I, like Down Town, think I may learn something here? Anyone with an interp?

[Edited by jumpmaster on May 18th, 2004 at 04:47 PM]

From 2004 BRD (100)

FED: If a batted ball accidently hits the bat a second time while the batter is still holding the bat and still in the batter's box, the ball is foul.
NCAA: Same as FED.
OBR: Point not covered. OFF INTERP 72-100: Same as FED.

But, you asked a LL question. LL 6.05(g) says the batter is out if the bat hits the ball a second time in fair territory. But this rule does not say whether the bat is still in the hands of the batter who is still in the box. It could have been dropped and makes contact with the ball a second time on the way to the ground. Therefore, this situation appears to me to be not covered by LL, and therefore I would rule FOUL as in FED, NCAA, and OBR (according to OFF INTERP).

Different rulings come when bat is out of hand, or batter is out of box.

The LL ruling is the same as OBR because the LL and OBR rules are identical (not surprisingf as LL is OBR based). The LL lettering in this rule is "off" by one because LL combines OBR 6.05 B and c.

LL 6.05(g) after hitting or bunting a fair ball, the bat hits the ball a second time in fair territory. The ball is dead and no runner may advance. If the batter-runner drops the bat and the ball rolls against the bat in fair territory and, in the umpire's judgment there was no intention to interfere with the course of the ball, the ball is alive and in play;

OBR 6.05(h) After hitting or bunting a fair ball, his bat hits the ball a second time in fair territory. The ball is dead and no runners may advance. If the batter runner drops his bat and the ball rolls against the bat in fair territory and, in the umpire's judgment, there was no intention to interfere with the course of the ball, the ball is alive and in play;

OBR does not cover the situation where batter, with bat in hand, and still in the box, contacts the ball a second time. Therefore, there is an OFF INTERP, and the OFF INTERP says "same as FED". If LL is like OBR then this is a FOUL ball, unless we want to ignore the OFF INTERP, in which case 9.01(c) applies and it is still FOUL, IMO.

The batter while still in the box and the ball comes up and hits the bat a second time (or hits his person) the ball is dead, "Foul Ball".

If the BR threw/dropped the bat striking the ball, interference batter out all runners return to base last occupied at TOP.

If the bat were thrown/dropped and the ball hit it, the ball is live and in play.