Bat

[bbman]

Batter drops bat after popping up. Catcher tripos over bat while trying to catch popup and drops his attempt.
Is this interference or nothing?

[Cecil4]

Originally Posted by bbman

Batter drops bat after popping up. Catcher tripos over bat while trying to catch popup and drops his attempt.
Is this interference or nothing?

Interference, an out.
USA SB 8.2.F BR is out:
By discarding their bat in a manner that prevents the defense from making a
play on the ball.
Repeated in RS 52

No specific about bat in NFHS, but BR is out by interfering with fielder attempting to play a batted ball NFHS 8-2-7.a

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

The Situation that was described in this thread was from a video in Facebook group of a H.S. baseball game being played under NFHS Baseball Rules and is not an accurate description of the Play.

A RH Batter bunted the Ball and dropped his Bat directly in front of HP as he started to run toward 1B. The Pitch was popped up toward F1 and the only Fielder that had any chance of Fielding the Ball was F1 because the Batted Ball landed at F1 feet about six feet in front of the Pitcher's Mound. Yes, F2 did step on the Bat but under no circumstances could F2 had been the 'protected' Fielder in this Play.

MTD, Sr.

[Cecil4]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

The Situation that was described in this thread was from a video of a H.S. baseball game being played under NFHS Baseball Rules and is not an accurate description of the Play.

A RH Batter bunted the Ball and dropped his Bat directly in front of HP as he started to run toward 1B. The Pitch was popped up toward F1 and the only Fielder that had any chance of Fielding the Ball was F1 because the Batted Ball landed at F1 feet about six feet in front of the Pitcher's Mound. Yes, F2 did step on the Bat but under no circumstances could F2 had been the 'protected' Fielder in this Play.

MTD, Sr.

Clarity is a good thing.
Hopefully, the OP and its answer are clear for that and for softball.

[Tru_in_Blu]

I'm a bit late seeing this. I thought maybe the forum had closed down.

Regarding dropping the bat, haven't kids been told for decades when learning to bunt, drop the bat right in front of the plate and maybe the catcher trips over it. Wouldn't that be on the catcher?

I would think that unless a bat was thrown, accidentally or intentionally, and it impacts a defensive player's attempt to make a play on the batted ball, we just let it play out.

If hitting a fly ball to the outfield or an infield grounder, dropping the bat around the batter's box would have no impact on a play. If a popup up near home plate and the batter doesn't flip the bat in the direction of the catcher but simply drops it to the ground, I don't think it would constitute INT if the catcher stepped on it or kicked it.