Tag or not?

[Rufus]

Had a play this weekend where a player got caught in a pickle with the resulting back and forth running/throwing/etc. The 3rd baseman finally gets the ball and gets close enough to our runner that he tags him with his glove. The only problem was for some reason he was holding the ball in his throwing hand (i.e., not in the glove that tagged our runner). The BU punched our runner out.

I'm the first to say that the runner pulled a boner and shouldn't have gotten caught in a rundown in the first place. That being said, I pointed out to the BU that the 3rd baseman didn't have the ball in the glove at the time he tagged our runner. The BU got that "Oh, crap!" look I get sometimes (like when my runners get caught in a pickle) and then recovered to say that the fielder didn't have to tage the runner with the ball as long as he had control of it. I actually wanted to see the end of the game from the field and not the parking lot so I let the point go.

Today I'm looking up the rules (we're USSSA) and found the following:

8.07.I.3 [A runner is out when he] is tagged, when the ball is alive, while off his base.

TAG (definition) - the action of a fielder in touching a base with his body while holding the ball securely and firmly in his hand or glove; or touching a runner with the ball, or with his hand or glove holding the ball, while holding the ball securely and firmly in his hand or glove.

Am I correct in thinking that my runner was safe based on the above? Any help would be appreciated.

[JR12]

The runner should have been SAFE! Remember what you said as a kid "no electricity" However on a force, the bag could be touched with the glove, while in control of the ball in your hand.

[jdmara]

I agree with JR, the runner should have been safe until properly tagged

-Josh