Mine sorta has the same issue, except the ball always makes it out on the first try. Its just sometimes the ball comes out with more force then others. My auto plunger also does the same thing. I was going to replace the coil sleeves and end links to see if it remedied the issue.

I just wanted to let you know I replaced the coil sleeves and end link and it seems to still do the same thing. The only thing I can think of is there is too much play in the mechanism at least for my auto plunger, I can take the auto plunger part that contacts the ball and wiggle it left and right more then it probably should