How to get an out

• Fielder catches fair or foul ball before it touches the ground

• The exception is the foul tip, a pitched ball that tips off the bat and is caught by the catcher. These are treated identically to swing-and-miss strikes.

• Batter hits a foul tip with two strikes
• After a hit, the batter or first base is tagged before batter reaches base

• Tagger must be holding the live ball

• Umpire calls three strikes (regardless of whether you swung)
• Bat hits the ball a second time while in fair territory

• Does not include cases where the ball unintentionally hits the bat, such as if it rolls into a bat that has already been dropped

• Batter, while running to first base, runs outside the three-foot running lane and interferes with the fielder taking a throw at first base
• Batter hits the ball with one or both feet outside the batter’s box, or steps from one batter’s box to another when the pitcher winds up (positions himself for a pitch).
• Batter interferes with the catcher’s ability to field or throw.

• Example: Batter leans out over the plate, even while keeping feet in the batter’s box
• If batter interferes with catcher’s throw but the throw still retires a runner, then the interference is ignored

• Batter runs into his own fairly batted ball while running from home to first base

How to make it on base