A league of their own

Small county private high schools form brand-new baseball conference

The Heights have played an independent schedule since the 2002 season after the Potomac Baseball Association folded when members St. Maria Goretti and St. John’s Prospect Hall (now called St. John’s Catholic Prep) left to join other leagues.

‘‘It’s great,” Carroccio said. ‘‘It’s good for our guys to actually be able to play for something.”

The new league, which will likely be called the Old Line Baseball Conference, includes the Avalon School, Riverdale Baptist, Spencerville Adventist Academy and Washington Christian Academy, the last two schools are located in Silver Spring.

‘‘Brian Carroccio ... is responsible for putting all this together,” Avalon coach Patrick Duffy said. ‘‘He has been looking for a conference to get into for a few years now. Obviously, we were doing the same, and both sides wanted something that wasn’t going to restrict the amount of games we were allowed to play, which is what some of the other conferences do.

‘‘This is an important variable because colleges love to see kids playing lots of baseball, getting at-bats, and one thing we’ve been able to offer student-athletes, here at Avalon, is a schedule with 30-plus games (scrimmages and tournaments included). We graduated three seniors last year, all three received offers, and two signed with respected programs, while the third chose to concentrate on academics.”

Duffy said other factors, including travel time, also contributed the formation of the league.

‘‘The goal was to find teams within 40 minutes of each other, who either wanted to join a conference, or were looking to play in a more competitive conference,” he said. ‘‘Obviously, we wanted this new conference to be competitive, and relevant to what serious student athletes are looking for, so adding a powerhouse school such as Riverdale Baptist was imperative.

‘‘It legitimizes the conference right off the bat. The distance was important because we felt if teams didn’t have to travel over an hour for a weekday game they’d be more inclined to join.”

Some of the league rules include the following: the teams play each other twice in the regular season and will participate in a end-of-year conference tournament; no team has any formal roster requirements other than players being enrolled in the school or in a home-school program affiliated with the school; and coaches will select both an all-tournament team and an all-league team.

Carroccio will serve as the commissioner for at least the first year, while Duffy will be in charge of Website production and media relations.