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West Michigan freshman softball player Kendall Kotzmacher is filing her taxes for the first time. She does so knowing that her federal and state taxes, as a Minnesota resident, will go toward litigation over her home state’s refusal to exclude men from women’s sports.
Kotzmacher had to face a biological transgender pitcher in the Minnesota state playoffs during her final high school season in 2025. She had to watch the trans athlete dominate her team and end her season. Now that the state continues to let this pitcher compete against girls, she may have to watch her younger sister compete against this athlete again this season.
Kotzmacher, who has earned income as a part-time youth softball coach and through NIL deals, including one with activist sportswear brand XX-XY Athletics, will have to shoulder some of that money to fund the legal battle to “save girls’ sports.”
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Champlin Park celebrates its state championship victory as Bloomington Jefferson looks on. (Amber Harding)
“I feel like I can justify spending more of this money, knowing that it’s going to these young girls who shouldn’t have to have anything to do with something like this, you know, it’s going to these girls that I’ve worked their whole lives for and can’t do anything for,” Kotzmacher told PK Press Club Digital.
“It’s just really frustrating, you know, and in an ideal world that never happens, and that money doesn’t need to be used in a lawsuit, like the one that’s going on now. And all of that could easily be put aside if the state complied and the governor [Tim] Walz could just use some common sense. And let’s fight for women and take our side for once when we’ve all been pushed this way.”
The DOJ announced that it was sue Minnesota educational agencies Monday for its continued refusal to comply with President Donald Trump’s mandate to exclude biological male transgender athletes from women’s high school sports in the state. The DOJ alleged that the State Department of Education (MDE) and the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) violated Title IX.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a preemptive lawsuit last year, saying the state’s human rights law supersedes President Donald Trump’s executive orders. The lawsuit said at the time that the state was already in compliance with Title IX. A ruling is expected on the federal government’s motion to dismiss the case.
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Much of the conflict between the state and the administration focused on the participation of transgender pitcher Marissa Rothenberger at Champlin Park, who led the school to a state title. The athlete is expected to compete again this season for Champlin Park.
“My little sister, she played with me last year. She’s still playing so it’s really hard,” Kotzmacher said. “I’m fortunate that it’s not allowed at the NCAA level. But there are all these girls that I don’t want to have to go through the situations that I went through, and I don’t want my sister to have to deal with what I had to do and what she had to deal with last year again.”
During a State of Minnesota In the tournament semifinals last spring, Rothenberger held Kotzmacher’s White Bear Lake team to just two runs on seven hits. Rothenberger also hit a double to lead off the final inning and set up a pinch runner to win the game for Champlin Park.
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Kotzmacher previously told PK Press Club Digital that after the game was over, she fell into her little sister’s arms and started sobbing.
“Honestly, I just wanted to leave right away. I didn’t want to do anything else,” Kotzmacher said. “I couldn’t even understand what had just happened.
“How do you acknowledge that you lost to a biological male? How do you process these events that happened? And it was something all night, I still couldn’t do it…we lost to a biological male in a girls state tournament.”
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Now, as she tries to excel in her college career, Kotzmacher said she’s also invested in Minnesota’s high school season as an activist.
“I hope people are really working to get this completed before the end of the school season, because the last thing that should happen is for this to be a repeat of last year,” she said. “And I truly believe that Champlin Park’s championship title should be retired and there is no reason why on secondary league records or documents the name Champlain Park should be anywhere near the winning season and that’s what they did.”
