tagging up to advance a base

Question
I have not found the answer to this in the rules. I play in slow pitch mens league softball (ASA). we had a guy on first and a fly ball to LF. as soon as the ball hit the LF glove, the runner on first broke to second. The LF bobbled the ball after it hit his glove then made the clean catch. The defense threw to first and the runner was out. the umpire said that the runner has to wait for a complete catch and not first contact with the fielder. is this correct??

Answer
Hi John,

that is unfortunately a terrible call by an umpire that doesn't know the basic rule(s).

show him (her) this

8-4-d runners are entitled to advance w/ liability to be put out when a legally caught fly ball is FIRST TOUCHED (my emphasis) by any defensive player.

I've answered this question in the past and used this example.

R1 on 1st
High sharp line drive that F6 leaps for, deflects off his glove and carries in LC where F8 legally catches it for the out. (we all agree this is a ball in flight legally caught, correct?)

R1 can legally leave the base as soon as the ball is touched by F6.

If this were not the rule an outfielder (with skill) could juggle a fly ball all the way back to the infield before finally securing it for a legal catch to stop a runner from tagging and advancing.

Mark