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Like the rest of the public school baseball and softball teams in Montgomery County, Blake spent last week preparing for the regional playoffs.

At the same time, the Bengals were working on their international relations.

The Silver Spring programs spent a day of their postseason preparation teaching and hosting a group of Iraqi teenagers May 10, on the last leg of their recent trip to the United States. The teens also spent time at the Ripken Baseball Academy in Aberdeen and a Bowie Baysox game.

"It was really cool," Blake baseball team co-captain Tommy Cunningham said. "I had a lot of fun. I really enjoy teaching baseball, especially to those who don't really know how to do it."

The concept of the combined practice — the Iraqi boys practiced baseball while the girls worked with the softball team — began last winter when Bengals assistant baseball coach Scott Dunlap heard the Iraqis were visiting the area. While performing batting sessions at Extra Innings in Laurel, he was given the heads up by Bonnie Hoffman, manager of the Baltimore Blues of the Eastern Women's Baseball Conference.

"She e-mailed me about a month ago and let me know there's a special baseball opportunity if we were interested in helping out," Dunlap said. "She was telling me there's a department, called Sports United I think, and this program brings one group [from overseas] each month to learn about different sports. ...

"This month is for an Iraqi contingent to learn about baseball. I ran it by coach [Steve] Murfin. He said our schedule's kind of tight, but we can do it this date."

The Iraqi group arrived at Blake at 2:45 p.m. and was escorted to the baseball field by Dunlap and Murfin. While walking to the field, the Bengal players formed two rows and gave each Iraqi teen a high-five to welcome them.

"Many of them didn't know what a high-five was and just reached out to shake our hands," Murfin said.

After a translated discussion about Blake High and the baseball program, Murfin, Dunlap and the players put their guests through a series of drills. They fielded ground balls, threw to a base, and took three rounds of batting practice.

"They were all eager to learn," Blake co-captain Taylor Miller said. "And if you helped correct them do something, they'd listen, but you had to act it out. A couple of guys hit pretty good. One [batter] one-hopped the fence. They got to hit as many times as they wanted and they got better each time."

After the workout was over, the Iraqis were treated to cupcakes and cookies provided by the softball families. They were given goodie bags that included a Blake baseball hat or visor, a 7/21 dog tag and a 3A Division Championship T-shirt Murfin had made up for the Bengals.

The 7/21 dog tag was Murfin's creative motto for his squad: Play hard for seven innings and all 21 outs.

"The biggest thing in terms of success in my eyes was they got to interact with high school students their own age," Dunlap said. "At the Ripken Academy, they just worked with coaches and instructions. I let them take batting practice and the main thing they wanted to do was run around the bases. They thought that was the best thing in the world."