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12U, top of 7th (doesn't matter); R3, 1 out Batter hits a screamer at F3 that he fields like an F2, going down to his knees and smothering. He's now about six feet from the bag, on his hands and knees, with the BR hustling down the line, and the F1 nowhere to be seen. So, unable to get to his feet in time, F3 grabs the ball in his free hand and crawls on his knees, and then flops over to smack 1B with his glove like he just thwacked a base-sized mosquito (there is no doubt he contacted the bag). The ball is still in his free hand. BR arrives... BU calls him "SAFE". As PU, I have R3 coming to cross the plate, so I can't step any closer to the play, but at 70', I see this happen just as I described it. The only "missing piece", or uncertainty, I have is whether or not F3 had control of the ball in his free hand. HT coaches go bonkers. I'm striding up the 1BL after acknowledging R3's score, and everyone who is not an umpire is looking at the two of us. My BU gives the short declarative, "He had the ball in his free hand, and hit the bag with his glove!". We're now standing about five feet apart, but the entirety of the HT dugout (which, conveniently, is just off 1B) and the HTHC is channeling their questioning outcries at me. I tell the HTHC we are going to discuss it, and I direct my partner more into the infield. I ask, "What did you see?" "Ball in hand, glove tagged the bag before BR arrived." "Did he have possession of the ball at the time?" "Yes." "Then that's an out." I then cued my BU to step from our discussion and rule the BR "OUT". Did we get this right? Of course as I'm jogging back to the HP, the VTHC wants an explanation (approached respectfully, and I appreciate the 1BC, who was an AC, not uttering a single word the entire time), and I explain that the tag of the bag by the glove with the ball in hand constitutes the ball beating the runner to the bag, thus he's out. If it had been a tag of the BR instead (in that same manner), it would have been safe. Run scored, 2 outs, next batter, Play!