Possession or not ?

[Gre144]

R3 sliding at home. The ball is there in plenty of time but the slide causes the ball to come lose. I yell," Ball on the ground, safe." Coach comes out screaming at me saying the catcher had possession.

1)Did I make the right call?( By the way I diffused the confrontation by keeping the mask on. Great suggestion! It has worked for me every time)

To make matters worse, R1 sliding into second, causes the ball to fly into left field. My partner still calls him out saying that R1 kicked the ball out of F4's mit. The opposing coach was irrate especially since I allowed his run to score on a similary play at home but my partner allowed an out stand after the ball was apparently kicked out F4's glove. I would have called the guy safe. My question is as follows:

2) Is it illegal if a runner kicks the ball out of a fielder's glove, if the kick was unintentional and/or part of the slide?

Thanks,

Greg

[Edited by Gre144 on Jul 8th, 2001 at 07:10 PM]