They both had high hopes in early March.
In early June, they were just glad to be playing baseball at all. Along with several other area high schools.
The Helias Crusaders tied for third in Class 4 in the 2019 season. The Fatima Comets finished second in Class 3 in 2019. With talented rosters returning, they were poised to make deep postseason runs again in their respective classes.
But that all changed when schools were closed due to COVID-19, later followed by an announcement from the Missouri State High School Activities Association that all postseason events were canceled.
So when they met Tuesday night in the opening doubleheader of the area annual summer league at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex, they were glad to be back on the diamond.
Not that it makes up for the spring they lost.
"It doesn't, but we can't get it back," Fatima coach Brian Bax said Tuesday night.
The Crusaders had eight seniors primed for a repeat run.
"I know the seniors were expecting to get back to the Final Four again," Helias coach Garrett Wiggans said.
In the summer league, each school generally has one varsity team and one or two junior varsity squads, with the idea of developing talent for the next season. But the special summer has led to some special circumstances.
For example, Helias has four teams in the league, two varsity and two JV. Wiggans leads the Helias 1 team in the varsity league. That team features the eight seniors, who wanted to play again one more time. A handful of other varsity returnees make up the remainder of the short roster.
"It's great for them to get another chance to play together," Wiggans said. "They didn't have to come back, we opened it up for them and every single one of them came back. It shows you how close this team really is that they wanted to come back and play together one more time."
Five of Fatima's nine seniors opted to play one last time this summer for the Comets.
"The rest of them had work and other things they needed to do," Bax said. "I can't blame them for that, I know they'd really like to be with us if they could."
The addition of seniors altered Fatima's plans for the summer.
"We don't have enough fields to play in this league with three teams, so unfortunately I couldn't find a place for the incoming freshmen," Bax said. "And the seniors are taking away a little bit of development time from the juniors and sophomores, we know that."
"But there's no way I wouldn't let them play. The younger guys understand that."
The Jefferson City Jays hosted Helias 2, a group of Crusaders who figure to be key varsity players next season, on Tuesday night at Vivion Field. The Jays had a pair of graduated seniors - Grant Straub and Dawson Schuemann - play Tuesday.
In Ashland, the Capital City Cavaliers didn't have to concern themselves with graduated seniors. The first-year school, made up of freshmen and sophomores, missed out on their inaugural season in the spring. So they're getting their first taste of varsity competition in the league which runs through the end of the month.
The league, which has been played for more than 10 years, had its schedule ready to go in late April. But COVID-19 threw a late wrench into those plans.
The Columbia public schools in the league - Rock Bridge, Hickman and Battle - could not leave Boone County to play games due to health concerns. And they couldn't host any school from outside the county. So the revamped schedule was finalized late last week. With those health concerns set to expire at the end of the month, the Columbia trio are slated to play non-Boone County schools July 2.
The Blair Oaks Falcons did not start this week, wanting to get a week of practice in before starting next Tuesday. Blair Oaks will play games in a week added on to the end of the season July 7 and 9.
Tuesday night, there were a couple of things out of the ordinary at the ballpark to address health concerns.
Fans were not allowed in the stands when Southern Boone hosted Capital City in Ashland. But the fans were able to find a way to watch the game, sitting in a parking lot down the left field line.
There was a "social distancing" bench outside the Helias dugout Tuesday. While the starters were on the field on defense, the Crusader reserves were in the dugout. But when the Crusaders were at-bat, the reserves left to sit on the bench to limit the amount of players in the dugout.
And after Game 2 of the doubleheader split, the Crusaders and Comets didn't have the traditional postgame handshake line. Instead, they lined up on the baselines in front of their respective dugouts and tipped their caps to each other.
"It was nice to get back out here again," Bax said.