Girls’ Softball Team Sparks Outrage After Suspected Male Pitcher Leads Them To State Tournament

The Champlin Park High School girls softball team in Minnesota is headed to the state tournament after winning its division title game on Thursday, fueled by lights-out pitching from junior Marissa Rothenberger, who is allegedly a boy.

The Champlin Park Rebels defeated Rogers, the defending state champs, 1-0 to win the Class 4A, Section 5 championship, improving the team’s record to 21-2 and securing the Rebels’ first-ever spot in the state tournament next week, The Minnesota Star Tribune reported. Despite a great game from Rogers pitcher AnnaBelle Waldoch, who gave up just six hits, Champlin Park held on to win in what the Tribune described as a “masterful” pitching performance from Rothenberger.

“You could tell she was ready to play today,” Reese Reimler, a senior on the team, said of Rothenberger. “We have 110% confidence in her. She’s the hardest worker I know.”

Conservatives and women’s sports advocates sounded off after the Rebels’ victory, blasting Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who has made his state a “trans refuge” and supports life-altering gender procedures on children.

“Rothenberger has single-handedly carried Champlin Park to its first ever state tournament berth after pitching all seven innings in both games. That’s 14 shutout innings against the defending state champions. This has to stop,” wrote Townhall columnist Dustin Grage. “Who in their right mind thinks this is acceptable?”

🚨 BREAKING: Champlin Park, Minnesota just shut out the defending state champions (Rogers) in back-to-back games to win the Class 4A Section 5 Softball Championship.

Both victories came behind the arm of “Marissa” Rothenberger—a biological male competing in girls’ softball. pic.twitter.com/jkMlRIVU1n

— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) May 30, 2025

“Nice work @GovTimWalz,” wrote Outkick founder Clay Travis.

Former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines added, “You are a shameful, sorry excuse for a man, @GovTimWalz.”

According to Reduxx, which cited documents that it obtained, Rothenberger was born “Charlie Dean,” but after turning 9 years old, Rothenberger’s mother applied to the Hennepin County District Court to change the name and sex on her child’s birth certificate, a request that was approved. Minnesota allows people submitting changes to their birth certificate to “request that the court order for your name change include the gender change as well,” and the state does not require that birth certificates show that there was a gender change.

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Reduxx reported that Rothenberger has not told teammates about a gender transition, but one former teammate of Rothenberger’s said that by November of 2024, “lots of people from the softball community found out the truth and were openly talking about it.” Rothenberger has reportedly shared locker rooms, bathrooms, and rooms with teammates while traveling for games.

Earlier this month, the Texas-based non-profit, Female Athletes United, filed a lawsuit against multiple Minnesota state agencies and officials, including Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minnesota State High School League Executive Director Erich Martens, alleging that the state’s policy on trans-identifying athletes violates federal law, CBS News reported.

The lawsuit, while not mentioning Rothenberger, alleges that female softball players have been forced to compete against a “biologically male athlete.” One girl described getting hit by a pitch thrown by a male athlete, saying she “never experienced pain like this when getting hit by pitches on other occasions,” according to the lawsuit. The Trump administration launched an investigation into the Minnesota State High School League in February, along with the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), over their transgender sports policies.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February banning boys and men from competing against female athletes, threatening to strip federal funding from states that don’t stop trans-identifying males from competing against women and girls. The Trump administration has gone after Maine for violating Title IX protections for women and girls, and also recently blasted California for allowing a boy to compete against girls in track and field.