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ESPN airs footage of Karen Weekly saying ‘good game’ to Taylor Pannell in handshake line

On3 imageby: Brent Hubbs05/31/26Brent_Hubbs

ESPN aired footage of Lady Vols softball head coach Karen Weekly saying “good game” to Texas Tech’s Taylor Pannell in the postgame handshake line following Saturday’s 2-1 win over Texas Tech.

Sideline reporter Holly Rowe said on Sunday’s broadcast of the Nebraska-Texas game that see was in close proximity of the handshake line and observed Weekly telling Pannell “good game”. 

The accounts corroborate Weekly’s account of the events and debunk the claim Pannell made that her former coach said she “made a mistake” in transferring from Tennessee following the walk-off win for the Lady Vols.

“We were walking through the line just saying ‘good game’,” Pannell said during Texas Tech’s postgame press conference, “and she said that I made a mistake instead of saying ‘good game’, which is kind of crazy. 

“Like celebrate with your team. I just think it’s funny she’s still thinking about it. It’s old news. Whatever.”

Karen Weekly called Taylor Pannell’s claim an “outright lie”

Weekly denied the claim in Tennessee’s postgame press conference and told the Knoxville News Sentinel’s Cora Hall that what Pannell said was “an outright lie.”

“Good game,” Weekly said at the podium, when asked directly what she told Pannell in the handshake line, “like I say to every player. Good game.”

Texas Tech coach Gerry Glasco said he was unsure what happened but noted everything seemed “normal.”

“I thought everything was normal,” he said. “I went through the handshake line, nothing. It happened behind me. So I don’t know exactly what happened.”

Emma Clarke hit a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning in Tennessee’s 2-1 win, sending the Lady Vols to the national semifinals on Monday. 

Pannell scored to tie the game for Texas Tech in the top of the seventh, after Tech loaded the bases with no outs. She was initially called out, but it was overturned after replayed showed Pannell had beat the tag from Tennessee catcher Elsa Morrison.

Pannell, a redshirt junior from Milan, Illinois, started all of Tennessee’s 63 games last season. She led the Lady Vols in batting average at .398, on-base percentage at .493 and slugging percentage at .747. She’s tied for eighth in Tennessee program history with 16 home runs and is 10th in single-season RBIs with 65.

Tennessee 2-0 at College World Series for first time since 2013

The Lady Vols beat Texas 6-3 on Thursday to open their stay in Oklahoma City and are now one win away from playing in the three-game national championship series, which is scheduled to begin Wednesday night. 

It’s the first time Tennessee has won its first two games at the Women’s College World Series since 2013. The Lady Vols, who have never won a national championship, have finished runner-up twice and have been in the semifinals seven times previously. 

“Nothing is going to get easier from here on out,” Weekly said. “Two days ago was really tough. Today was really tough. It’s a national championship for a reason. If you want it, you’re going to have to find a way to be the toughest team when those moments come.”