What would you call ?

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We had a scrimmage today and I had a girl drag bunt . She bunts the ball , drops her bat ( the bat lands on the plate and stops ) , ball hits about a foot in front of the plate , spins back , and rolls and taps the bat and rolls a couple inches and stops on the plate ( ball never goes into foul territory ). Catcher fumbles around with the ball , runner is most likely going to be safe and runner from 3rd will score because catcher is about to throw to 1st when Ump and other coach says foul ball . I have to say ump is donating his time and it is a scrimmage ( so I don't argue but I tell him that's a fair ball and I drop it ) . One of the assistant coaches on other team is looking at me and saying that its foul because it hit the bat and its on the plate . The head coach told me he knows the plate is in fair territory but even ump after the inning says he thinks its foul because it stopped on the plate ( I told him that's a myth ) . I just want someone who knows the rule on this to back me on this or maybe even explain why I am wrong. The way I understand it , if the ball rolls into the bat , the bat is part of the field . I believe if the bat is still moving and hits the ball then its a dead ball . Again in this instance the bat wasn't moving .

 

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Dead ball...out

 

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Not an expert on this. Plate is fair territory but if bat touches ball on ground in fair territory, I believe Lester is right and batter is out.

 

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If bat is not moving and batted ball makes contact there is no dead ball and we play on as if there were no bat. If bat is moving and hits ball then we have a dead ball and batter is out with all runners returning to previously occupied base.

It sounds like in your situation, as you state it, they got it wrong. It bat is still, lying on plate and ball rolls back into it and stops on plate we have a fair ball and batter and runners are free to advance.

 

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Bat hits ball = interference. Dead ball, batter out, runners return.

Ball hits bat = live ball. Play on, get what you get.

And, home plate is entirely in fair territory, so a batted ball stopping on top of it is a fair ball.

 

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Agree, when bat was dropped it became part of the field, and then the ball rolls back against it, play on, because home plate is in fair territory.

 

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So if a ball hits a stopped bat and goes foul, it is just a foul ball?

 

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So if a ball hits a stopped bat and goes foul, it is just a foul ball?

Yes. If the ball hits the bat over fair ground, it's not automatically fair. Fair or foul still depends on where the ball eventually stops or is touched.

If the ball hits the bat over foul ground, then it is immediately foul.

 

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Going back to the original post, if the bunted ball only goes a foot off the plate, then rolls back into the bat, did the bat really have time to become stationary?

Judgement call, as usual. It just seems like there are too many intricate details on this one to determine if Blue was a righteous dude.

 

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Just listen to Bretman, he has it exact as always!