Transgender High School Softball Pitcher Dominates As Battle Over Biological Men In Women's Sports Rages
Marissa Rothenberger, a biological male who identifies as trans and plays high school softball in Minnesota, was recently thrust into the spotlight when Reduxx reported on her on-field success as a pitcher.
That dominance continued earlier this week when Rothenberger led her sixth-ranked Champlin Park team to a 2-0 shutout win over seventh-ranked Maple Grove. The Class 4A rankings are based on the Minnesota High School Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association.
Rothenberger's performance against a team that had a .364 batting average ran the pitcher's record to 4-1 on the season, with 52 strikeouts and a 0.88 ERA in 32 innings, according to stats on the Minnesota Softball Hub. No individual stats from the game were available.
Maple Grove had the third-best team batting average of the top-10 teams in Class 4A, though two of the top four teams don't appear to have stats listed, so that ranking may not be accurate.
The 52 strikeouts on the season rank 20th among Class 4A pitchers. The leader has 133 in 69 ⅓ innings. Again, it's unclear how reliable and complete the stats on the Minnesota Softball Hub are.
Rothenberger's dominance is just the latest instance of trans athletes making headlines. Even though one of President Donald Trump's first steps in office was to sign an executive order essentially banning biological males from competing in women's sports, the issue hasn't gone away.
One day it's a high school track meet in Oregon, the next it's a fencing competition in Maryland or the U.S. Masters swim meet in San Antonio. The common thread is a biological male who identifies as transgender winning a women's athletic event.
When it's not happening on the field, the issue of trans athletes in women's sports is leeching its way into the world of consumer brands, where Nike is unwilling to answer questions surrounding its alleged funding of research aimed at uncovering how much "gender-affirming care" is necessary to level the playing field between young transitioning male athletes and their female counterparts.
OutKick previously explained how, as a sophomore, Marissa Rothenberger helped Champlin Park win 14 games in a row heading into the state playoffs. Rothenberger "earned" First-Team All-State honors from the Minnesota State High School Coaches Association. The transgender athlete was the only underclassman to receive First-Team honors among 4A Minnesota high schools.
According to documents obtained by Reduxx, Rothenberger's mother "applied to the Hennepin County District Court to alter [the athlete's] birth certificate shortly after his 9th birthday. The petition was approved, and Rothenberger was issued a new birth certificate showing that he was born ‘female’ and altering his name from ‘Charlie Dean’ to ‘Marissa.’"
The state of Minnesota doesn't require a birth certificate to be marked after the change. As far as the Minnesota government is concerned, if a male says he is a girl or woman, that's good enough, hence Rothenberg's eligibility to play softball.
Rothenberg might be good enough to earn a chance to play in college, and the NCAA's current transgender policy may allow it to happen.
Trump's exceutive order prompted the NCAA to updat its transgender policy, but that new guideline uses birth certificates to determine a person's sex. With Rothenberg reportedly changing their birth certificate at a young age, the NCAA may not be able to know if a male is using an amended birth certificate if not made clear by the state that issued it. The state of Minnesota would fall into that category.