Personally, I am enforcing it the way I have enforced the NCAA bunt rule all of these years. I believe that the NFHS rule folk meant an attempt to simply be the holding of the bat in a bunt position without pulling the bat back. Look at the spirit of the rule, rather than breaking it down word for word.

That is my first inclination and one that makes perfect sense to me.

However, in previous discussions some had reported being told by FED "higher-ups" that the requirement of the bat being held within the strike zone was, literally, how the rule should be interpreted.

I was just curious if anyone else had been told anything different.

I expect that will be amended once someone up there realizes that most bunters are at the front of the box, and therefore rarely is the bat ever being held in the strike zone since it is never over the plate!