Coldwater's Dayton Ennis earns spot on 13U USA Baseball Midwest All-Region Team
COLDWATER — After a long and grueling process that filled much of his summer and put thousands of miles on the odometer of his parents vehicles, Coldwater’s Dayton Ennis has earned a spot on the USA Baseball 13U Midwest All-Region Team.
“Dayton (Ennis) has played baseball since he could swing a bat and find a glove small enough to fit his hand,” said his mother Gretchen Ennis. “Throughout his baseball career had has had many coaches and trainers that have been a part of his success.”
The path to a spot on the USA Baseball Midwest All Region team, which is made up of the best players in the 11 state Midwest Region, including players from Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri and Nebraska, was a long one for Ennis and his family, kicking off with a tryout as part of the National Team Identification Series (NTIS).
The USA Baseball National Team Identification Series (NTIS), which according to the the USA Baseball website, “is the most comprehensive player identification program offered by USA Baseball. Launched in 2009, the program was created to provide all athletes from across the United States an opportunity to compete for a spot on a USA Baseball national team. Players from across the country begin the identification process by participating in tryouts in their designated region. Every region will then name 32 athletes from each of the 11U, 12U, 13U, 14U, 15U, and 16U age groups.”
The NTIS presents all competing athletes with many great benefits, including national exposure, as well as an opportunity to develop their skills through an amazing baseball experience. Competitors compete in a combination of games and on-field skills testing, receive one on one interaction with USA Baseball Task Force members, undergo individual skills testing, compete agains top players from across the country, receive an opportunity to make Team USA Baseball programming, receive a Team USA Baseball National Team Trials style uniform, and even get to play in front of college and university coaches and professionals scouts who will be in attendance.
For his tryout Ennis and his family traveled to Romeoville, IL. on May 18 and competed in the skills assessment portion of the tryout that began the National Team Identification Series process.
After showing his skill set and what he can do on the diamond, Ennis was chosen to advance to the second round of tryouts, where he and his family traveled to the Rantoul Family Sports Complex in Champaign County, IL. where he competed in the Prospect Games.
Something must have went right on the diamonds there as well because just a few days later Ennis was notified that he had been selected to the 13U USA Baseball Midwest All-Region Team, earning a chance to travel to the National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina for the Champions Cup.
As he prepares for classes at Coldwater Community Schools here in just a few weeks, Ennis is also concentrating on his chance to compete on one of the biggest stages of youth baseball, the Champions Cup, a series of games against the best of the best from other regions across the state. The event will take place beginning Aug. 24 through Aug. 28.
In the 2022 season alone, 10 USA Baseball National Team alumni and 20 total development program participants were honored by their respective states with Gatorade National Player of the Year honors, including Michigan Gatorade Player of the Year Brock Porter of Orchard Lake St. Mary’s.
Where Ennis will go from here is anyone’s guess, but what is for sure is Ennis is on a journey that not many are able to take and the sky is the limit for this young Cardinal. Congratulations to Coldwater’s Dayton Ennis on his selection to the USA Baseball13U Midwest All Region Baseball Team.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Reporter: Coldwater's Dayton Ennis earns spots on 13U USA Baseball Midwest All-Region Team
