Trans Pitcher Wins Girls’ Softball Championship

A girls’ high school softball team in Minnesota won its first-ever state championship on Friday thanks to the lights-out pitching of a boy who identifies as a girl.

The Champlin Park Rebels took down the Bloomington Jefferson Jaguars 6-0 in the 4A title game, riding the arm of Marissa Rothenberger, a boy, who pitched the entire game, giving up just two hits to Bloomington Jefferson. In the Rebels’ three-game tournament title run, Rothenberger pitched all 21 innings for the team, allowing just two runs.

Champlin Park advanced to the state championship in a comeback win against White Bear Lake on Wednesday, with Rothenberger, a junior, hitting two huge doubles that sparked a rally for the Rebels, Outkick reported. According to the outlet, two fathers of girls on White Bear Lake “expressed deep frustration with the system that allowed their daughters to compete against a male athlete.”

One dad specifically called out Democrats for allowing boys to compete against girls in Minnesota. “You’re looking at a whole team of future Republicans,” he said.

The Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) allows athletes to compete “consistent with their gender identity or expression in an environment free from discrimination with an equal opportunity for participation in athletics and fine arts,” according to The Minnesota Star Tribune.

In February, the Trump administration opened an investigation into the MSHSL over its transgender policy after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to protect women’s sports. Trump has gone after some states, such as California and Maine, threatening to cut off federal funding if they continue to allow boys to compete against girls.

Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz has been blasted by conservatives and women’s sports advocates for allowing boys to play against girls in his state. Walz has made the transgender issue a big part of his platform, turning the state into a “trans refuge” and supporting life-altering gender procedures on children.

Along with leading his team to the state championship, Rothenberger also received “All-Tournament Team” honors, according to Outkick reporter Amber Harding Snyder. Rothenberger was pictured towering over the girls selected for the “All-Tournament Team.”

Rothenberger was born “Charlie Dean,” but after turning 9 years old, his 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, according to documents obtained by Reduxx.

Rothenberger reportedly kept his gender transition hidden from his teammates, but one of his former teammates, who spoke to Reduxx on the condition of anonymity, said that eventually girls and parents started to figure it out. Rothenberger has reportedly shared locker rooms, bathrooms, and rooms with teammates while traveling for games.