Basepath, 3-Foot Running Lane, Attempted Tag

Question
USFA Rules are silent on this "situation". 1 out, R-1 on 2nd base. Batter hits 3-hopper to F3, who was playing in for possible bunt. BR starts running toward 1st-base, F-3 attempts to tag BR who sidesteps the attempted tag. As this happens, F-3 swaps ball from glove to bare hand, and attempts to tag BR with her glove (Ball is in bare hand).
Plate ump calls BR out for "running out of basepath". Offensive coach disagrees, and asks Ump to "get help", but plate ump informs coach it's a "judgement call" and the runner is out for running out of basepath. Offended coach asks Ump again to get help, and Plate Ump then calls Base Ump (me) and asks if there's a possibility the call was incorrect.
Because the plate ump came to me (I didn't volunteer anything), I told him there's a rule somewhere in my memory bank that "running out of the basepath" doesn't apply to a BR who has not yet reached 1st Base. I also told him what I saw, which was the fielder (F-3) trying to tag the BR with her glove hand while the ball was in her bare hand.
Plate ump then reversed his original call and allowed BR to go to first, and R-1 to advance to third.
After explaining to the defensive head coach that because I was a veteran ump who "really knows the rules", the defensive team accepted the result of the play, even tho' she had "never heard of such a rule" as the BR being exempt from the base-path rule.
There are two "bottom lines" to this situation, and to me, they are" (1) Based on all the facts, we got the play right, even though the explanation (Or was it a "lie") after the call may not have been the "rulebook" answer.  (2) The best umpires I've umped with over my 30+ years experience are umpires who can tellthe best lies for a given situation.
So here's my two questions: Is there a code anywhere (Including baseball) that details running out of the basepath, specifically for the Batter-Runner(BR)?
Also, does an "attempted tag" in the play above apply when the attempt was made with the "wrong" hand? (Ball was in bare hand, while attempted tag was with the glove-hand)


Answer
First of all the Batter/Runner is subject to all the rules that are listed in rulebooks under runners.  BR is for the most part just descriptive.

There is no exemption under any code that I know of that would allow the BR to diviate more than 3 ' from the base path to avoid a tag.  I can't comment on the rules on baseball for this.  I assume that they are similar.

Sounds like the BR should be out to me.

A tag with an empty glove while the ball is in the bare hand is nothing.  Think about the reverse, would you call a player out on a tag with the bare hand while the ball was in the glove?

USFA rules are very abbreviated.