As a non-profit, association-based program, our board is all volunteers, we work to keep program costs as low as possible, we have determined our best option on tryouts is to utilize a third party evaluator and offer multiple sessions within the same day to allow some flexibility for players attending more than one tryout. We do not have a second tryout date. We utilize a third-party evaluation provider and we only have them scheduled for one day.

If you can't attend because of timing of another tryout:

• Players will need to prioritize which programs are top choices and prioritize what tryouts they attend. While it is not required, it is highly recommended they attend the 1st session offered for their top choice program.  Especially if you are a pitcher or catcher. Many programs are making same day offers to pitchers and catchers. This is because without pitchers & catchers, you can't form a team.

If you can't attend because of a trip/out of town/etc:

• We understand some plans can't be changed but we also can't change the designated tryout open date from the national sanctioning bodies.

If you are unable to adjust your schedule to attend one of our sessions but Revolution is a top choice, please register to attend the tryout and email us at RevFastpitch@gmail.com. 

Let us know your circumstances, indicate positions played in the past, former teams you have been a part of, your age level of eligibility, and your school district.  

If we have openings after offers have been sent to players attending tryouts we will reach out to discuss options to determining if our opening(s) are a fit for you.

Our goal is every in-community player trying out for Revolution will receive an offer. However we can't guarantee that an offer can be made.  

Positional needs is the #1 factor in determining if any player will receive an offer is are there enough pitchers and catchers to form teams for all the players.  If you have pitched or caught, please tryout for those positions. Even if they are not your priority position. 

The second factor is, are the pitchers & catchers able to compete at the appropriate level of play for the supporting players (non-pitchers/catchers) on the roster.  If the pitchers are a Gold level (top) skill but the supporting players are B level skill, this isn't a team.  Same if the pitchers are B level but the supporting players are Gold level.

We highly recommend all players, in-community or not, plan to attend a minimum of 2 tryouts.  You should try to attend the first available time offered for your 1st pick program if possible.  And you should identify a couple late in the week tryouts in case you haven't received an earlier in the week offer.

All 12 roster spots. All 9 positions. For as many teams as we can form (must have 2-3 pitchers, 1-2 catchers).

All players, returning and new, attend tryouts. Returning players do have the advantage of being known within the program however, they are re-evaluated each year and considered along side the new players when forming teams.  

Revolution does not make positional offers, except for Pitchers & Catchers.  We are not sending an offer to a short stop, a first baseman, etc.. We are filling our roster with athletes. Girls that can play (or learn to play) multiple positions. 

One of our primary goals is to help our association member's high school programs. We don't know where each player may fit into their school teams lineup. Our approach is players need to be versatile, they will have positions they are stronger at but they should be able to play most positions if their team needs them there.

Revolution teams do not participate in fall ball league or play fall tournaments.

Many of our players are multi-sport athletes and we want them to continue to be able to focus on their fall sports during the season.  

All teams will participate in Fall Skills Practices.  Fall Skills Practice consists of 4-5 weeks of practice on Sunday evenings  September thru early October.  We are currently partnering with the Crown College softball team to lead our fall practices. 

All fall activities are held at the Rockford High School softball fields.

If you can/have pitched or caught, tryout for those positions. Pitchers and catchers typically get offers sooner.  Trying out for this positions won't "hurt" you but it may help you. We can't form teams without pitchers and catchers. 

We ask if these are priority positions for you on the tryout registration. Priority means: they are committed to working on their skills and want to be considered to fill these roles on a regular basis.  

• If they are a priority, we will place you based on where your skill level at those positions is a best fit.  

• If they are not a priority position, we will place you based on where your overall skill level is a best fit, but as a bonus, you can help out in these key positions if needed.

Our goal is each team has 2 players that have indicated Pitching is a priority for them and 1-2 that Catching is a priority. 

In addition, each team also needs at least 2 players that can fill in these positions if needed (injury, absences, it's just not Suzie's  best night at the mound or behind the plate...).  Every team needs back ups.

Summer is our primary season.  Our expectation is softball will be the players priority activity and all players will be at all/most summer events.

Teams will begin practice in late-May (depending on age-level and school spring sports schedules) and run through July. 

Teams will participate in a summer league (games 1-2 times per week) and play 2-3 tournaments plus league tournaments.  1-2 tournaments may require overnight stays, this will vary by team.  Every attempt is made to have tournament dates identified and communicated to teams by the end of March each year.   

Teams will practice 1-2 times per week. 

Summer 2025 Team Schedule  Example

14U - Big West A League

• Practices started late May 
  • 1-2 times per week for the first and last few weeks of the season
  • 1 time per week when league/tournaments in full swing
• League games started 1st week of June and ended 3rd week of July
  • Games scheduled Tuesday or Thursday
• Participated in 2 tournaments; plus Qualifiers and State. 
  • June 13-15 Eagan Down 'N Dirty (Eagan)
  • June 20 -22 G&S Classic (Chippewa Falls, WI)
  • July 19-20 Qualifier
  • July 26-27 State

Not necessarily.  There are a lot of things happening in the background during tryout week. The two primary factors that affect how soon offers can go out are:

1. Pitchers and catchers are essential to a team forming. We need to know we have players accepting offers for these positions before we can start sending offers to the "rest of the team". If we don't have pitchers and catchers, we can't form a team. 
2. We are waiting on responses to offers in order to know how many roster openings remain. This is why we have a 24-hr response rule. We typically don't send out more offers than we have open roster spots. 

We know this is stressful. We know it's hard when your friends have offers and you don't. We know you might have another offer that is expiring but you don't have an offer yet from your first choice team. We know it can feel like "no one wants me." We get it. This process is not easy for anyone, us included.

If Revolution is your first choice team and you have an offer from another team, email us, let us know your situation. We will do our best to give you an honest answer whether we think there is potential of a roster spot for you or not. At the end of the day, we really just want girls to play ball, even if it's not for Revolution.

Things you can do to help us (and all teams you attended a tryout for):

1. Know your top 2 programs you want to play for and attend their 1st day of tryouts. Respond to offers promptly. All programs are in the same situation. They are waiting for yes or no to know if they can send out more offers. Don't wait until hour 23 and 59 minutes to respond. 
2. Don't go to more tryouts if you have accepted an offer. 
3. Let us know if you have accepted another offer as soon as you accept it. Again, we want you playing even if its not with us. You letting a program know you are not taking more offers helps them tremendously.

Revolution makes every attempt to  have a team for all in-community players however some things are out of our control. At the 14+ levels, the players are actually more in control of how many teams a program can field than we are.  If players decline offers, especially pitchers and catchers, it can mean there isn't a team for the other 8-9 girls that could have filled out that roster.

Examples: In 2019 , we were unable to form 2nd 14s team because of too many declined offers by positional players, it wasn't because we didn't have enough players for a team. 

Similar happened with HS (16-18U) level in 2023. We had 14 girls interested in playing but no pitchers.

In 2014 the day before tryouts, we only had 1 pitcher registered to attend for 14U sessions. We notified all registered to attend and let them know we would not be able to form a team so they would need to attend other tryouts.

What is your next step if this happens?

There are almost always late/fill in tryouts held by programs looking to fill in open roster spots.  Utilizing Facebook groups is your best resource. 

There are still some community based programs that don't do try outs in the fall that will need players to fill out rosters in the late winter/early spring.

The Revolution board will work with in-community players to help find them a team to play on if they want to play.

Yes, it will take more work to find a team than during the first couple days of tryout week but it can be done.

After several years of struggling to coordinate scheduling of players, facilities and instructors Revolution board made the decision to focus our efforts on directing players/parents to reputable outside training facilities rather than trying to provide the training "in-house." 

The challenges of providing in-house off-season training are we don't have full-time administration and coaching staff on the payroll and renting indoor facilities is costly especially during the high demand times (Saturday early AM or Sunday evening). Those issues factored with the high percentage of multi-sport athletes within the program make it impossible to select times to schedule training when a majority of players would be available to attend. 

The board feels our efforts are better served by vetting the area training providers that have the structure in place for players to have more scheduling options.  We are fortunate to live in an area with a lot of really great training providers.  

If your player is interested in reputable private training facility recommendations, please feel free to reach out.

Fall Season

All Fall Skills Practices are held at the Rockford High School fields.

Summer Season

Each team will be assigned a HOME field based on team composition.  Teams with a majority of players from one co-op association community will be assigned a Home field in that association community whenever possible.

If no co-op community has a majority of players, Home field will be assigned based on fields closest to the majority of players and/or field availability.

All teams may occasionally utilize a non-Home field based on field availability.

Field options:

Rockford High School fields

Delano High School fields

Bentfield Mills Park fields

We strive to hire coaches that have played at a collegiate level and/or have experience coaching at the high school/college level.  Revolution is committed to hiring female coaches and pairing new coaches with an experienced coach to mentor and support them. 

Coaching staff for fall and summer season may vary.  Revolution coaches that also coach high school softball have no-contact periods they must follow and coaches personal schedules may not allow being available both seasons (i.e. college student, job responsibilities, etc).

Parents of players may apply for coaching positions however they must be willing to coach a team their daughter does not play on. Only in rare situations will a parent of a player on the team coach the team.  Each team's coach/assistant coach may vary in their need so parents can reach out to offer support each season.

We are continually looking for coaches as our program grows.  If you are interested, or know someone interested in coaching, please contact us at RevFastpitch@gmail.com

 While we work hard to keep participation fees low, we do not want the registration amount to be the reason a girl does not play softball.

Financial assistance opportunities are available to help cover costs,  please complete this form and a member of our board will be in touch.