Baseball

you could get two strides on that ball, then have to scramble and reverse. I have no idea whether they were going on contact, though, and the situaion didn't call for it.

There's no rule against tagging a runner when all that's necessary is to touch the base. You do whichever's easier. Think of all those throws on ground balls that go to the plate side of first base, and the first baseman stretches to catch them and whirls to try to tag the batter/runner.