a few years ago, when the 14u national was held at shreve, we faced 2 california teams and a team from arizona. the Arizona team won it over the san diego team that was there. they do it all the time.
think about how much commitment that california has if they are willing to spend all that money and do all that traveling for a shot at a berth.
heck, we have parents complain when we want to do an overnighter in Columbus.
don't take them lightly just because they didn't qualify out west. think of how many teams are out there and how little of berths given. think in ohio at the states of the good teams that didn't win a berth. maybe because of injury or attitude ro just one of those days.