Softball Interference: Dropped 3rd Strike & Batter's Rights - League Rules

Question
League: Girls fast pitch softball.
Situation: 1st base open. Zero outs.
Dropped third strike.
The ball bounces off the catcher and hits the batter in the batter抯 box or out of the batter抯 box.  The batter doesn抰 intend to make contact with the ball. She takes off to 1st base.
Is it a live ball still, dead ball, batter out????

Answer
Hi Kyle,

Well it depends...intent is not necessary and the batter is out when they interfere w/ a D3K.  However there must be an act that interferes, the ball simply deflecting and hitting the batter is not in itself an act of interference.  it's what happens after that that determines if we have interference or not.

Mark