Batter or Batter Runner bat hitting ball second time

Question
QUESTION: Hi Scott what are the ruling for batter swings hits ball and as batter/runner heads towards first base. batter drops bat in fair territory and as ball is rolling toward foul line bat stop ball in fair territory. No play at first. Is it dead ball? Or is Batter/ Runner out and dead ball.This is for High School SoftBall. Thanks
Chris

ANSWER: Hi Chris,

Thank you for your question.  The ideas behind the rules surrounding contact between an untouched fair batted ground ball and a discarded bat are essentially these: 1) The batter/runner has control of their discarded bat, as they decide when to let go of it and in which direction.  2) The batter/runner doesn't have control of their untouched fair batted ground ball, as its course is affected by cleat marks, dirt clods, pebbles, and the like.  

For simplicity's sake, let's only address balls that are fair the entire play, as in your scenario.  In 1), if the moving bat hits the moving ball OR a stationary ball, the ball is dead and the batter/runner is out.  In 2), if the moving ball hits the stationary bat, the ball is live.  You didn't say in your scenario if the discarded bat was moving or stationary, but I'm guessing it was stationary, so you have a fair, live ball.

Scott Kelly


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Scott thanks for the explanation . I have follow up. If Batter makes contact with ball second time while in the batter box and bat in hand. Is
batter/ runner out and dead ball.
Thanks, Chris

Answer
Hi Chris,

Thank you for the followup question.  Let's see if I can answer it in one sentence: If the batter, while in the batter's box, while the bat is still in their hand(s), makes contact with the ball a second time, whether the ball is over fair or foul territory, then the ball is dead and foul, but the batter isn't out.

Scott Kelly