called out on a bunt

Question
Batter bunts the ball in fair territory.What are the different scenarios that the batter would be called out because the bat and ball made contact after batter threw down her bat after the bunt

Answer
Butch,

There are only two possible scenarios that can happen in your situation.  Either the rolling ball hits the stationary bat or the moving bat hits the ball.  In the second scenario it does not matter if the ball is moving or not.

If the ball rolls into the stationary bat, no call, live ball play on.

If the bat rolls into the ball, interference, dead ball, batter out and any base runners are returned to the base last touched.

This situation is clarified in the NFHS (High School) case book.

This is a call that is frequently made wrong.  Some less experience umps will call the out on the second contact of the ball and the bat regardless of the situation.

I coach my kids to drop the bat in foul territory.  This prevents the situation altogether and eliminates the possibility of a bad call

Tom