So then the socket is probably on the root of the character and the items are split off into 2 different animation sets, which is hardly ideal.
Are you sure / did you check that there isn’t a bone you can use specifically in the player’s hierarchy ?
And I don’t think the ball can have root motion on since it’s not a character per-se.
The whole point of the root motion system in unreal is to convert animations from animations to character movement…