INDIANAPOLIS -ÊEveryone on Triton's team did it, from 15-year-old players Todd Blackford and Braxton Barton to 56-year-old volunteer coach Dave Shively.

Every baseball player and coach bleached his hair blond in a display of team unity.

"The kids kept saying we were gonna do it, we were gonna do it," Triton coach Jim Shively said. "I was the first coach to do it, and once I did, the other coaches wanted to."

Including his dad, Dave.

It's unlikely Bethel's players on its 1990 NCCAA championship baseball team all dyed their hair blond. But Jim Shively, a right fielder on that team, was able to share with his players what it takes to win a title.

"I told them I had been there and that they don't have to try to do anything special," he said. "That's the way it was with that Bethel team. We just had to play the way we normally played. We knew we were good.

"Baseball is a simple game. You throw it, catch it and make some outs."

Triton did that better than anyone in Class A in winning the state title.

Triton didn't have any bashers in its lineup. The Trojans entered the weekend with the fewest doubles (39), triples (five), runs (186) and RBIs (145) of the four teams left in the Class A tournament. They were tied for last with 11 home runs with Adams Central.

Triton finished 7-0 in the postseason, and in the final six games, Triton had 42 hits, 38 for singles and only four for extra bases.

What Triton had was superior pitchers.

Pitching is what allowed Triton to beat No. 4 Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian (22-4) 10-4, beat No. 1 Washington Township (31-2) 2-1 and beat No. 3 Madison Shawe (30-5) 1-0 in back-to-back-to-back games. The Trojans downed Fort Wayne Blackhawk and Washington Township in one day at the South Central A Regional then beat Madison Shawe in the first round of the state tournament.

After allowing four runs in the first to Fort Wayne Blackhawk, right-handed starter Tyler Hensley, the Trojans' ace, blanked the Braves the rest of the way and got the complete-game win.

Jake Burnett, who entered the game against Washington Township with a 3-2 record, beat the No. 1 team with a complete-game two-hitter.

Hensley, who finished with a 12-4 record, struck out 11 and pitched a complete-game one-hitter against Madison Shawe.

Burnett, who finished with a 5-2 record, pitched a complete-game three-hitter in Triton's 13-0 win against Adams Central in Saturday's state championship game.

Both only did what statistics indicated they could do as Hensley entered the weekend with a 1.58 ERA, while Burnett had a 2.43 ERA.

Jim Shively rode that pitching to a state title in his final year as Triton coach. Shively decided before the season that he wanted to have more time with wife Debbie and sons Zak, 8; Cody, 6; Lucas, 2; and Sam, 8 months. Shively leaves after eight years and takes a career record of 137-92 (.598) with him.

His boys are starting to play baseball, and he wants to be able to coach them.

"We're the Spartans," he said. "It's an 8- and 9-year-old team in the Bourbon Minor Leagues."

So Shively's coaching career will continue, but just not at Triton. [[In-content Ad]]