NCAA softball player alleges person threatened to come to her school and kill her over women's sports activism

NCAA softball player Kendall Kotzmacher says she reported a threat to come to her college and kill her amid backlash over her advocacy against transgender athletes competing in girls and womens sports, while online targeting has also spread to her teammates.

The 20-year-old Colorado Christian University sophomore, recently named a Courage Wins Champion by XX-XY Athletics, told OutKick that the hostility has intensified as her public profile has grown.

"I had a person say that they were gonna come to the school and kill me. That one was a little scary," Kotzmacher said.

Kotzmacher said she reported the threat to her school and had documented other concerning messages over the summer. Asked whether anyone had been arrested, she said no.

"Ive been getting a lot of people telling me to go kill myself or that I dont deserve to be alive or that I should die, a bunch of stuff like that, which has been really difficult to hear," she said.

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Knowing that strangers can identify where she attends college has added to her fear.

"I think people knowing where I go to school has been a little bit scary just because I never know if someones going to show up or whats going to go on," she said.

The backlash has also left Kotzmacher concerned about the teammates who publicly support her. She said one person replied to teammates comments on her social media posts, visited their accounts and looked up their names and statistics.

"I think I want to protect them as much as possible," she said. "So trying to make sure that theyre not getting any of the backlash and that its kind of just on me has been a focus of mine."

Kotzmacher said she offered in the teams group chat to remove their names from her social media and make clear they were not involved in her advocacy.

Her teammates rejected the offer, she said.

"And theyre like, absolutely not. Like, were in this together. Were going to be supportive of you," Kotzmacher recalled. "Like, were all here for you, which has been so refreshing to hear because I didnt really get that last year."

Kotzmacher, a sophomore catcher and infielder who previously attended Western Michigan University, transferred this past summer after

In her September Fox News op-ed, she attributed her transfer from Western Michigan to a lack of coaching support and pressure in coursework.

Her advocacy began after White Bear Lake High School lost 3–2 to Champlin Park in the 2025 Minnesota Class AAAA state semifinals. Champlin Park, whose team included a transgender pitcher, subsequently won the championship.

Kotzmacher helped put White Bear Lake into that semifinal, hitting a seventh-inning, two-run home run in a 3–1 quarterfinal victory over Farmington.

More than a year later, she is balancing college softball and classes with an increasingly public role in the debate over sports eligibility.

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