VR Motion Control Template - larger 'pickup' collision?

I’m creating a simple catch game using the VR Template with motion controls.

I have a simple ball mesh with projectile movement that I want to catch. However, the mesh size makes catching it difficult. Your timing needs to be perfect or the ball simply bounces off your fist. I want to create a larger ‘grab’ collision, so that there is a little more leeway with timing your catch.

Unless I misunderstand, the VR Template is only looking for overlapping meshes, so a collision box won’t work. I’ve tried a ‘hidden’ sphere mesh, but am running into a problem. For the projectilemovement component to work, my ball mesh needs to be the root component. So, I can’t place the mesh under this sphere collision mesh. I tried the other way around (collision-sphere mesh under the root mesh, but the controller doesn’t seem to be recognizing it - still only grabbing when overlap the ball mesh).

How would I work around this?