The USA Baseball National Team Identification Series (NTIS) is an annual athlete identification process that involves hundreds of athletes and takes place all over the country. What starts out in towns and cities near their hometowns leads to Cary, North Carolina, for the NTIS Champions Cup, where the best players from each region compete head-to-head in hopes of making a future national team program roster. The path to Cary is not the same for any two players, with each athlete facing their own, unique processes and obstacles along the way. 

For each of the six NTIS regions (Midwest, Northeast, Northwest, South, Southeast and Southwest), this process begins in the first few months of the new calendar year and includes dozens of tryouts spanning multiple states and six age groups (11U, 12U, 13U, 14U, 15U and 16U). Players from all over the country tryout, from small rural towns to big cities, but only a handful are invited to play at the USA Baseball National Training Complex.
The path to Cary begins with a first round of tryouts at the regional level. There are no prerequisites for a player to tryout and no biases based on where a player is from. The coaches are simply looking for the best talent to represent their region, whoever that may be.
Judson Dowell is one of just 30 players on the 11U rosters from the South region at the 2019 Champions Cup. He began his journey to Cary by signing up for an open tryout in Austin, Texas.
"I was nervous at first, but I knew I could show that I could play for my region," said Dowell.
Dowell said that coaches at his open tryout watched players take batting practice, throw and field, and even watched how they hustled when not on the diamond. 
"It was hard to stand out because I was playing with a lot of talented kids," said Dowell. 
Like him, the other players at the tryouts were vying for their spot to make it to Cary, too, and came from all across the South region in order to show that they had what it took to accomplish just that. 
"I put in a lot of hustle and effort and I think that is what helped me get selected [for the next round]."
Dowell proved that he was one of the top players at the tryout, and earned an invitation to Houston, Texas, for a final tryout to make the 11U all-South region team. The tryout process in Houston was similar to round one, but this time, the coaches were facing tougher decisions as the player pool was deeper and more talented in the second round tryout. Once again, Dowell stood out, and he was selected to the 11U South Stripes team that would travel to Cary, North Carolina, to represent their region in the Champions Cup.
"It is a great honor to be here [in Cary] because I was able to get through the first and second rounds of tryouts after competing with all these great baseball players. I think it is an honor to be able to represent my region," said Dowell.
Akanni Owodunni is a member of the 11U Northwest Stripes team playing at the NTIS Champions Cup and his path to Cary began in Vacaville, California, back in May.
"At the tryout, we ran [the 30-yard dash}, took batting practice, fielded, and threw. The coaches were evaluating us in different ways, so it was a lot of fun," said Owodunni. "I learned a lot in many different ways from how my swing is, how I throw and a bunch of other stuff."
Owodunni earned an invitation to the second round of tryouts in Stockton, California, where he, like Dowell, faced the challenge of standing out among other talented baseball players competing for the chance to represent the Northwest region in Cary.
"It was hard to prove myself over the other kids because I was playing against some of the best kids in my area and it is tough to try to prove that you are better than the best of the best. But, I did really good," said Owodunni. "As a catcher, I tried to block every ball in the dirt and frame balls that may have been a little out of the zone. When I was hitting, I tried to stay flat and make contact in the zone. I really felt like if I did all of those things well, the results would come."  
Owodunni's efforts paid off as he was selected to play for the Northwest region at the Champions Cup, where he will have the once-in-a-lifetime chance of showing the USA Baseball scouts and task force that he is among the best-of-the-best in the entire country.
"There's nothing that can match the feeling of knowing you were just selected to play in one of the top tournaments in the country, and to do it representing your own region," Owodunni said.
Owodunni and Dowell are just two of the over three hundred top baseball players from across the entire United States who, like at their regional tryouts, are fighting to stand out in front of USA Baseball national team staff, scouts and task force members at the National Training Complex. 
Each and every one of these athletes began their paths here in a different way, from a different place. But, for now, after achieving goal of representing their region on the national stage, Dowell, Owodunni and hundreds of the most elite athletes in baseball, have collectively started a new path to Cary. This time, however, a bigger goal stands in front of them: playing for Team USA at the National Training Complex in 2020.
"I am competing and having fun, but being here, I feel like I can make my case to represent the United States and play on the national team next year," said Owodunni.