It may look like a smooth season on paper, this 16-0 season the Ashland softball team put together.

But add a catcher who left the team to take a job, players juggling driver’s ed and other responsibilities, and the mix gets a little more interesting.

“I think all season long what we’ve mainly done is, if someone’s taking driver’s ed – and I did not say no because this is a small Class D school – but I said as long as we have nine players, it’s OK,” Ashland coach Becky Morse said. “And we’ve had nine players on one occasion, which was kind of scary.”

Yet, it’s Ashland and the Winslow softball team which share the honor of being the only teams in Eastern Maine still standing with unblemished records.

Top-seeded Ashland will take on No. 2 Wisdom of St. Agatha in Wednesday’s 7 p.m. Eastern Maine Class D final at Bangor’s Union Street Field.

Winslow will take on No. 2 Bucksport in Wednesday’s Class B final at 3 p.m.

The regional finals begin tomorrow with Class A and C games at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. in Bangor.

“We don’t even talk about [the undefeated record], it’s like wow,” Morse said. “The last [regular season] game, when we played Madawaska, they said to me `you know, we can go 15-0.’

“But they know when they’re in postseason, they only have one chance.”

A big part of Ashland’s success is senior pitcher Alicia Nason, who averages eight strikeouts a game, and ran up a .559 batting average during the regular season.

But it was Erin Soucy who held the batting crown at .569, and who took up catching duties early in the season.

“Erin Soucy has done quite a job, and she didn’t want to,” Morse began. “In fact, I had three or four girls who were rotating through, and each of them said to me `if you want me to do it, I will.”‘

Ashland’s only weakness, if you can call it that, is the outfield has seen very little action.

“If I had to say we had a weakness, and mainly because the balls have been hit in the infield, it’s the outfield, because we have two first-year outfielders,” Morse said. “The infield is really, really strong, but it hasn’t been an easy season.”

Keith Reynolds recently received the nod to coach the Central girls varsity soccer team this fall in East Corinth.

A two-year assistant girls soccer coach at Hermon, Reynolds was approved by the SAD 64 school board in May, Central Athletic Director Mike Hatch said.

Reynolds replaces George Bell, who resigned this winter, Hatch said.

“I live in Bradford, so it’s only a hop, skip and a jump away,” the English-born Reynolds said. “Both of my sons are there, it’s our local high school.

“I enjoyed my two years at Hermon, but at the same time, I was driving for an hour and a half every day,” he said.

Hermon Athletic Director Jon Perry is also searching for a replacement for girls varsity soccer coach Kevin McConnell, who resigned this spring.

Justina Ramsdell from Bucksport High is the winner of the Penobscot Valley Conference’s Robert Lahey Scholarship of $500.

The No. 1 student in her senior class, Ramsdell has a 95.3 grade point average and played soccer, was the captain of the team; ran indoor and outdoor track; is a two-year National Honor Society member; and participated in drama, music, Students Against Drunk Drivers, the outing club, and the senior executive council.

Erin Cole-Karagory of Caribou, Peter Phelan of Brewer and Sam Shippee of Katahdin High School in Sherman Station were honored recently by the Maine Sports Hall of Fame with the 1996 Scholar-Athlete Awards.

The three were among the 10 high school student-athletes to receive the Hall honor June 2, and received $500 scholarships for the award.

Cole-Karagory is ranked first in her class, and was a three-year softball and volleyball player. She received all-state and all-league honors in soccer and basketball, which she played for four years. Cole-Karagory will play soccer and basketball at Colby College.

Cole-Karagory earned NEWS’ All-Maine schoolgirl basketball honors this winter, and was named the Big East’s scholar-athlete.

Phelan is a three-sport athlete for the Witches, garnering all-state honors in the hurdles, triple jump, long jump, and 600-meter run for indoor track.

The senior holds the state indoor triple jump mark of 45 feet, 11 3/4 inches, which he set this winter. Phelan is ranked 12th in his class and will attend the University of Maine in the fall.

Shippee holds all-league and all-state honors in baseball, and all-league honors in soccer, and was named team captain in soccer, basketball and baseball. He was named the outstanding Class D baseball player.

The senior is ranked eighth in his calls of 72, and will try out as a walk-on for the University of Maine baseball team in the fall.