By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
It’s not often a mother is hurrying out of the stadium while her son is amidst becoming one of the stars of a state championship game.
That was Kelly Wirt on May 17.
That’s because the Wirt family was involved in two major tournaments that were overlapping and going on in separate states.
Burlington Christian Academy’s Gib Wirt was wrapping up his high school career with a state championship in baseball. Softball player Mary Moss Wirt was competing in the NCAA regionals for Elon.
So that put their parents, Kelly and Todd Wirt, in a scheduling predicament. Kelly runs a Burlington real estate agency. Todd is a former principal at Graham High School and later superintendent of Orange County Schools among other stops.
The BCA baseball and Elon softball postseason schedules were on collision courses.
“OK, how does this work?” Kelly said, recalling her thoughts. “Mom is a great cheerleader, but Dad is like their anchor for these sports.”
In the case of Mary Moss, she was playing on her biggest stage in the NCAA Tournament in Columbia, South Carolina. Gib was concluding his high school career in Asheboro.
For Gib, the opportunities outweighed concerns about logistics.
“It’s awesome. I love it,” he said. “It’s what our family does.”
Before what turned out to be the final weekend of the siblings’ seasons, there was a trial run of sorts for the Wirts. Elon was playing in the Coastal Athletic Association Tournament on the Campbell campus in Buies Creek and BCA was in the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association quarterfinals in Gibsonville on the afternoon of May 10.
Both teams won, with Kelly witnessing Elon clinch its first CAA Tournament title in softball and Todd on hand for BCA’s advancement in the baseball playoffs.
Todd, a former baseball player who appeared in NCAA Division II regionals as an Elon junior, was there to greet the team bus when the Phoenix arrived back from Buies Creek. Mary Moss, a junior, is the starting catcher.
The next day, Elon learned of its NCAA destination. The Phoenix didn’t want to go to Duke because that’s a frequent regular-season destination, so the South Carolina assignment seemed about right.
“Glad it wasn’t the West Coast,” Kelly said.
On May 16, Todd went to watch Elon in the softball clash with host South Carolina on the first day of the double-elimination regional. Kelly went to see BCA in Game 1 of the championship series vs. Freedom Christian Academy.
Gib tuned in as well.
“I was watching it (online) before the game in the dugout right before we jogged out to the field,” he said. “It was awesome. I’m so happy for her.”
Then the next part of the plan for May 17.
“Mom was here last night and Dad was there last night and they’re switching today,” Gib said on May 17 in Asheboro. “Just got to divide and conquer.”
Kelly, wearing a No. 10 Elon softball jersey, stayed for the start of BCA’s Game 2, seeing Gib rap run-scoring singles in both the first and second innings.
Soon, she was gone.
“At that point, I knew they were going to win,” Kelly said. “That was the plan. I was going to softball.”
She missed Gib’s final run batted in and his pitching of the final two innings in relief.
BCA won 12-1. Elon wasn’t so fortunate, losing the elimination game 12-0 to Virginia.
Todd, whose work career also had him at Woodlawn Middle School and Hawfields Middle School prior to stops at Mooresville and Wake County, has long connections in area baseball. He’s a former American Legion manager for the now-defunct Burlington-Graham Post 63 team. Along with his parents who came from Salisbury, he was on the field for postgame photos in Asheboro.
“It has been great,” Todd said.
Soon, Todd and Gib departed and watched the Elon-Virginia game from home in Efland – with plans to head for Columbia if Elon had staved off elimination for another day.
Kelly said the scheduling was a matter of taking it one game at a time.
“It was a very magical two weeks for the Wirts,” she said.
Next they can start plotting strategies for 2026 involving schedules for Elon softball and Hampden-Sydney baseball, where Gib will play.
“We don’t know anything different at this point,” Kelly said.
