The results are in. Four participants with great solutions.
Cresta and TSchultz came up with the exact same catcher. Cresta's launcher was particularly impressive.
Mikee's around-the-bottom solution is gorgeous. (I feel compelled to give a medal for this since it was discussed, although I never really got the go-ahead.)
Ioncorpse's dark solution is a work of (dark) art.
Medals:
Cresta - 886 (over the top)
mikee7 - 876 (around the bottom)
ioncorpse - 912 (also over the top)
I also included a couple of my own solutions going around the bottom, only because they were different from any I got. Too expensive, but fun to watch. I'm sure there could be some cost tweaked out of them, but I didn't bother.
Congrats and thanks for playing my first host.