Let me see if I can help.
Our tryout progression for the Midwest CWS went like this:
KU in early June
**** Roberts (Tulsa) in late June
Area Code Games the first week of August
Everything is free, even the CA tournament, but you pay to get yourself there and for your own hotel.
The tryout at ORU is your final tryout. There are 3 locations that are this level (ORU, Chicago, IN) and you must be invited to progress to one of these. I'm only familiar with the KU/ORU progression.
You find out about the lowest level tryout from the scout who recommends you. Don't get worked up about getting invited right now. A lot of the organization happens right before the event. We went two different years and never knew more than a week in advance that we were invited. Almost missed it last year!
As a pitcher, expect very little from the tryouts. At KU each pitcher threw about 16 pitches in the bullpen. Then you get an email if you advance to the next level. At ORU pitchers sit around all day (bring food and water, the concessions weren't open) and then they only throw about 12-15 pitches off the mound. THIS IS A TRYOUT, NOT A SHOWCASE! Our first year we arrived at 9am and weren't done till 6:30pm. Last year we arrived at 10am and were done around 3pm. It depends on where you are in line. Some people were disappointed by this short event (your 90 seconds of fame), but the scouts know what they are looking for. We felt it was worth the trip and got college recruiting just off this. In fact, one pro scout who called recently said he saw my son in Tulsa and didn't even go to Long Beach.
Be patient...it all falls into place.
Just a note on this tryout...
Its really hard to make the team. My son went as an incoming JR two years ago. NO ONE from the whole KC metro made the team and there were some strong players. This past summer (incoming SR) he made the team and was the only one from the KC area. In fact, only two kids from the whole state of KS made the team that traveled to CA and he was the only pitcher.
We feel very grateful and blessed to have had this opportunity and know that it opened many, many doors. When we got home from the tournament, our answering machine was literally FULL! He ended up hearing from 13 teams from the top 25 final college polls, with 11 of them making solid scholarship offers. In all, he heard from over 30 D1 schools. All this from 2 innings of pitching on an August day in sunny CA!
And for any cynics out there, we had no connections or inside help. I know some kids do, I witnessed it. But if you're qualified they don't pass you up. For pitching, velocity really mattered. I saw many really good pitchers who didn't break 85mph and they didn't make the cut. Fair or not, that was reality. There were about 140 kids just at ORU and around 75 of them were pitchers only.
I think a total of about 16-18 pitchers made the team from the three combined tryouts in Tulsa, Chicago and IN.
Just attending the tryouts is an honor and can result in good exposure. Very few players are even invited.