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Discussion: Ruling

Batter mis-hits a short pop up down 1st base line short of 1st base. Pitcher goes over to get it but lets ball hit ground in fair territory and it spins over the foul line.

Ball now hits the bat on the ground in foul territory that the batter dropped on the way to 1st and it bounces back into fair territory.

Ump ruled fair ball and hitter has a single. Correct call?
Foul ball once in foul territory
If the bat is dropped in foul territory and the ball rolls into the bat and then goes into fair territory, the ball is ruled foul. Upon touching the bat in foul territory, the ball is foul and is a dead ball.
See Video

https://baseballrulesacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Bat-Interference.mp4



Bourgeois has the correct call
And what was umpires explanation as to why this was a fair ball?
Foul ball
Definitely foul.

Maybe the umpire misapplied this rule (only ever seen happen once as written below):

9.2 R. If the batter 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 batter is not out and the ball is live and in play.



ump was told that ruling by another ump
Did he phone it in? Goodness. BJ, if you say anything about Austin, I will definitely have a good laugh.
Same ump just asked me tonight--what if the bat was in fair territory?
Gary, the rule above would apply. The only catch would be whether the batter intentionally dropped it there in the umpire's judgement. I know that if I hit a ball that short that I wouldn't have the presence of mind to throw a bat down to intentionally change the course of the ball. I am running a mad dash for first with no other thought in my head.

Hopefully the umpire learned something from you.
Thanks for the replies Just something that we don't see often.
[[[the rule above would apply. The only catch would be whether the batter intentionally dropped it there in the umpire's judgement. I know that if I hit a ball that short that I wouldn't have the presence of mind to throw a bat down to intentionally change the course of the ball. I am running a mad dash for first with no other thought in my head.]]]

Intention has nothing to do with it. That was covered in the video. Ruling is the same as it has been for years.

It is a baseball video. This is softball. 9.2 R above has the word intention in it. You can look it up if you think that I did not copy and paste correctly. It has always been this way in softball.
wayne.. here try this web-site it's for BASEBALL umpires then you can post your BASEBALL rules from your SOURCE the author of one of the most coveted publications of baseball rules ever written.. http://umpire-empire.com/
Had a play in a high school baseball game earlier this year. No one on base, no outs. Visiting team batting. Left handed batter executes a nice drag bunt. He tosses the bat toward the pitcher. Pitcher jumps out of the way of the bat. No call by home plate ump (I’m on the bases). Catcher gets the ball throws to first and hits the batter runner in the shoulder. I have no call at first. Batter runner was running on the inside grass. Still no call from my partner. Then the home team coach comes charging out screaming at my partner. After several minutes of arguing my partner came up to me and asked “did the batter intentionally throw the bat toward the pitcher? ” My response was that I can’t read his intent but I do you can’t do what he did and he was also out of the baseline, take your pick.
My partner didn’t call anything, prompting one of the most vulgar arguments I’ve seen. Of course he was ejected but not before he got the last word in. And I certainly can’t blame him.
The point is intent isn’t always the determining factor in making a call.
Question. Why would anybody in their right mind intentionally throw their bat at a fair batted ball?

I know it is a baseball video. Duh! I wasn't referring 9.2(R) and what would you consider intentional since the ball wasn't struck with the thrown bat? I can only picture you running at a mad dash.....LOL

I know what I would call in a BASEBALL game.

And I have been a member of Umpire Empire since it virtually launched. There is an excellent thread on there on how to award bases when obstruction is called. You should check it out.
stick8, I agree, but when the rule specifically says intention that is what it is. I have never had it happen to me, but it happened to someone that I was training on his first game. Fortunately he called it correctly by accident (no intent to change the direction of the ball). It must have happened before that someone intentionally threw the bat down to change the direction of the ball, or every softball association would not have basically the same rule on it. I can't imagine being able to execute that because I would be too busy running for first to think that well or deliberately. We are fortunate in softball that we do not have the other scenarios since bunting is not allowed.

Hope to see you soon!
At one time I found the whole Nancy Allen, Wayne, BJ thing kind of funny. Now I find it extremely annoying and immature. Same thing over and over, debating rules, name calling, questioning of knowledge,explosion and thread closed. Ridiculous. Lets go back to debating why tourneys don't have real time results. At least that made sense. Sometimes.
I agree...I can discuss a rule, but on the other hand
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