Male pitcher wins Minnesota girls softball title, triggers special federal investigation
The Department of Education escalated its probes into the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) to be investigated by the Title IX Special Investigations Team.
The move comes after a male athlete helped Champlin Park High School win a girls state softball championship in Minnesota.
Minnesota is facing two federal Title IX investigations after a male athlete helped Champlin Park High School win a girls state softball championship.
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Education escalated its probes into the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) to be investigated by the Title IX Special Investigations Team, a joint initiative with the Department of Justice.
The move follows complaints received by the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which began investigating MSHSL in February.
After President Trump signed his February executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” MSHL announced it would continue to prioritize state policies allowing student-athletes to compete based on gender identity, regardless of sex.
The OCR has launched a separate investigation into MDE for allegedly allowing male students to participate in female athletics and access sex-segregated facilities, according to a department press release.
The controversy in Minnesota intensified when a 17-year-old male pitcher dominated the female competition, pitching five games and allowing only one run in 35 innings, ultimately leading Champlin Park High School to win its first-ever state championship.
The situation gained further attention when former NCAA athlete and conservative commentator Riley Gaines spoke out against Champlin High School’s male athlete, prompting a clash on X with Olympian gymnast Simone Biles.
@Riley_Gaines_ You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race. Straight up sore loser. You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender… https://t.co/pjpzuZ0AlO
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) June 6, 2025
[RELATED: Trump admin investigates University of Wyoming for allowing male to join sorority]
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon condemned Minnesota’s failures to keep men out of women’s sports in a press release, saying, “The Trump Administration has a duty to protect women and girls and uphold federal civil rights.”
She continued, “Minnesota’s continued indifference to females’ civil rights is completely unacceptable…we will fight to restore antidiscrimination protections under Title IX to the fullest extent of the law.”
McMahon also highlighted her collaboration with Attorney General Pam Bondi, who leads the enforcement arm of the new Title IX Special Investigations Team, established on April 4 to accelerate case resolution.
The escalation coincides with the department’s observance of June as “Title IX month,” celebrating the anniversary of the law, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in any federally-funded educational program.
Campus Reform also reported the department’s investigation into the University of Wyoming for allowing a male to join a sorority as one of its first initiatives for “Title IX Month.”
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