Touch OR Tag

Question
Slow Pitch Softball
A batter hits a ball down to first base. The player picks up the ball in his bare hand and tags the base with his empty glove only. No other part of his body touches the base but his empty glove. Does the ball have to be in his glove to touch the base with it ? Is the runner out or save ?

Answer
Thanks for the question!

The runner is out.  Think about it this way, if you had the ball in your bare or glove hand and touch the bag with your foot (a routine grounder for example) it's an out.  So as long as you have control of the ball, you can get a force out touching the bag with any part of your body.  

Also the glove (when properly worn) is an extension of the body, it can touch the bag for an out as well.  It doesn't matter if the ball is in the glove or the bare hand.

I hope this helps answer your question, if not please reply!