After two years out here in Washington of seeing how the Washington and Oregon teams do it, I still much prefer the integrity that most Ohio teams show. One team out here disbanded its 18 Gold team two weeks ago and sent the 16-U eligible players on that team to its 16-U team. Then they allegedly released some of the girls on that 16-U team to make room for the girls moving down. This type of thing is not uncommon out here.
At tryouts, there are no guarantees about roster size or anything else. Most of the teams here will be picking up two players for ASA Nationals at all age levels and nobody really complains because that's just the way it's done. So when you play one of these teams, understand it's the original team plus one or two studs, often at pitcher. Roster sizes are usually 14 to 17, player fees are extremely high and travel is extensive. As a result, the tough love and the competition provide a mentality among players and families that results in better softball at the high end of the scale, but it comes at the price of integrity and, often, honesty. I simply couldn't run a team or organization the way that some of the people out here do it and sleep at night. Not all of the top teams and organizations out here do things this way, it's maybe half, but that's enough to make it seem like about all of them.
Getting back to the point of the thread, at 16-U on up, if you are trying to build a top team or add to an already good team, it's not typically coming at tryouts. It's done over the phone. If you are a good player trying to get on a really good 16-U or 18-U team, call the coach. If he/she hasn't heard of you it's going to be tough, so ask for a personal tryout, sooner rather than later.