Protect girls’ sports. Stand with Kendall Kotzmacher.
A college softball player says someone threatened to kill her after she defended girls’ sports; her teammates’ solidarity shows how parents and leaders should respond.
Girls need sex-based sports, and the adults responsible for protecting them must stand with the girls who speak up. On Oct. 13, Jackson Thompson reported on X that NCAA softball player Kendall Kotzmacher said someone threatened to come to her school and kill her1. Kotzmacher, a 20-year-old Colorado Christian University sophomore, told OutKick what the threat sounded like: “I had a person say that they were gonna come to the school and kill me. That one was a little scary.”2
She told OutKick, “I’ve been getting a lot of people telling me to go kill myself or that I don’t deserve to be alive or that I should die,” and said, “I think people knowing where I go to school has been a little bit scary just because I never know if someone’s going to show up.”2 A girl should not have to weigh her safety against telling the truth about who belongs in women’s sports.
A lost season brought her to speak
Kotzmacher’s fight began on the softball field. In a Fox News opinion article, she wrote that she was a senior when her team reached the Minnesota state tournament in 2025 and her goal was to play alongside her younger sister. She wrote that her season ended because the opposing team was allowed to put a boy in as the pitcher on a girls’ team. She wrote that she cried after the loss, because she could not understand how the adults who were supposed to protect girls like her had allowed this to happen3. The adults charged with writing and enforcing the rules let a boy take the mound against girls, and she decided to speak about it.
- 2025Kotzmacher’s team lost in the Minnesota state semifinals
- Sept. 23Kotzmacher spoke at a Capitol Hill news conference after the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing
- Oct. 13Jackson Thompson reported Kotzmacher’s account of a threat.
Her teammates refused to leave her alone
She told OutKick she has received messages telling her to go kill herself and that she should die. She said she reported the threat to her school and had documented other concerning messages over the summer, and that she knew of no arrest. She said knowing where she goes to school has made her fear that someone might show up there. She offered in the team group chat to remove her teammates’ names from her posts, and they refused: “And they’re like, absolutely not. Like, we’re in this together. We’re going to be supportive of you.”2
XX-XY Athletics founder Jennifer Sey wrote that the threat did not stop Kotzmacher from standing up to protect women’s sports, and named her the group’s latest Courage Wins Award winner4.
Democrats called no witnesses
Kotzmacher spoke at a Capitol Hill news conference after the Sept. 23 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on fairness, opportunity and safety for female athletes. The hearing’s three listed witnesses were ICONS co-founder Kim Jones, former professional soccer player Carly Smolak and attorney William Bock III. Democrats called no witnesses2. A hearing on girls’ sports that calls no witnesses from the Democratic side leaves girls’ accounts out of the record.
Sen. Dick Durbin argued that lawmakers should address other problems facing children and female athletes and raised concerns about invasive examinations to enforce sports restrictions. Kotzmacher asked lawmakers to listen even if they disagreed with her2. When girls describe what sex-based rules mean in their lives, the senators who write those rules should hear them first.
Kotzmacher will not lose her voice
She put it plainly: “I lost a championship I earned the right to chase. I will not lose my voice.”5 She said the prospect of younger girls facing similar experiences keeps her speaking publicly. XX-XY Athletics named her a Courage Wins Champion, a program that honors female athletes who take consequential stands for fairness, opportunity or safety and provides financial support and access to leadership programming2.
Kotzmacher told OutKick she plans to vote for Republican Senate nominee Michele Tafoya in the upcoming midterm1. She said Tafoya has been supportive of her advocacy: “She’s been super supportive of everything.” Minnesota voters will choose between Republican Michele Tafoya and Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan for the seat that retiring Sen. Tina Smith is leaving2. Parents and school leaders should defend sex-based sports and make clear that girls who speak up get support, not intimidation. Girls should not have to lose a championship, or their voice, to make adults defend the boundaries that protect women’s sports.
Sources
- @JackThompsonFOX on X, 2026-10-13: NCAA softball player Kendall Kotzmacher recently advocated for the protection of women's sports before congress, and in response someone threatened to come to her school to kill her, she says. Kendall has already had to transfer schools after speaking up, 2026-10-13
- NCAA softball player alleges person threatened to come to her school and kill her over women's sports activism | OutKick
- I lost a state championship to a boy. Now I'm fighting back for girls. | Fox News
- @JenniferSey on X, 2026-10-13: "I had a person say that they were gonna come to my school and kill me. That one was a little scary." That didn't stop @KKotzmacher from standing up to protect women's sports. And that's why she's our @xx_xyathletics' latest Courage Wins Award winner. https:/, 2026-10-13
- Kendall Kotzmacher Named Courage Wins Champion | XX-XY Athletics
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