The No. 1 seeded Olney Cropdusters captured their first-ever Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League championship this past week, defeating the No. 2 Bethesda Big Train 11-3 in a winner-take-all Game 3 of the championship series.
Olney’s Brian Scott, an Olney native, Sherwood High School graduate, and current Frostburg State standout, was named the Championship Series Most Outstanding Player after going 5-for-10 with three RBIs over the three-game series. He also recorded a pivotal outfield assist in Game 3. Before college, Scott helped lead Sherwood to three consecutive Maryland state championships.
The title marks the culmination of a years-long effort to build the Cropdusters into one of the premier summer collegiate baseball programs in the region.
Following the championship, team president Brad Scott reflected on the organization’s journey, which began nearly seven years ago with a vision of bringing a Cal Ripken League team to Olney. Rather than playing at a regional park, the group partnered with the Olney Boys & Girls Community Sports Association (OBGC) to create a permanent home that would serve both the Cropdusters and local youth athletes.
“There was concern and doubt about how we were going to move this organization forward,” Scott wrote of the team’s early years. “The board decided more infrastructure was needed… We began to reset the organization with the philosophy that if we created the culture we wanted, everything else would take care of itself.”
The organization steadily gained momentum over the past three seasons, growing community support, expanding sponsorships, enhancing the fan experience, and adding an MCBL developmental team known as the Dusters.
On the field, the Cropdusters claimed the regular season championship and the league’s No. 1 seed before advancing to the finals against the perennial powerhouse Bethesda Big Train. After dropping Game 1 in extra innings, Olney rallied to win the final two games, clinching the championship in front of a sold-out home crowd.
Scott also reflected on his son Brian’s comeback after suffering a broken clavicle while playing at Frostburg State earlier this spring. “It was devastating to our entire family,” Scott wrote. “To see him contribute to this team and be named MVP of the championship series was icing on the cake.”
Scott credited dozens of volunteers, coaches, board members, sponsors, and community partners for helping build the organization, saying the team’s success extended far beyond wins and losses. “The fans and community have completely bought in and engaged with this team,” Scott wrote. “The support is not only on the field, but you hear it in restaurants, breweries, stores, etc.”
Quoting the iconic line from Field of Dreams, Scott closed his message by writing, “If you build it they truly will come!” before adding that planning has already begun for the 2027 season and a championship repeat.
