ESPN breakdown backs up Tennessee coach Karen Weekly’s assertion she didn’t talk trash to ex-player
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ESPN decided a full breakdown was needed in a postgame handshake controversy that unfortunately has gotten some big-time attention at the Women’s College World Series.
Following Tennessee’s thrilling 2-1, 9-inning victory over Texas Tech on Saturday in Oklahoma City, the Volunteers and Red Raiders went through the usual postgame handshake after Emma Clarke’s walk-off homer lifted the Vols into the WCWS semifinals.
But amid the revelry for one side and disappointment for the other, there was apparently an issue with what Tennessee coach Karen Weekly said or didn’t say to Texas Tech third baseman Taylor Pannell, who used to play for the Volunteers. Pannell asserted that Weekly talked trash during the handshake, a claim that Weekly told the Knox News was an “outright lie.”
To further get to the bottom of an unfortunate situation, ESPN “just rolled the tapes,” as Cora Hall of Knox News posted on her social media on Sunday afternoon.
“Karen Weekly very clearly told Taylor Pannell ‘good game’ in the handshake line after Tennessee beat Texas Tech and nothing else,” Hall wrote in her post. “Pannell claimed (Saturday) Weekly told her she made a mistake, which Weekly flat-out denied.”
Pannell was sticking to her story during Saturday’s postgame news conference.
“We were walking through the line just saying ‘good game,’ and she said that I made a mistake instead of saying ‘good game,’ which is kind of crazy,” Pannell told reporters. “Like celebrate with your team. I just think it’s funny she’s still thinking about it. It’s old news. Whatever.”
All of this bluster resulted in ESPN taking the time to do a full breakdown of the postgame handshake, right during the heart of the Women’s College World Series as the best of the best in the sport of softball are battling for a national title.
Weekly wasn’t backing off her claim either that nothing wrong was done in the moments after Saturday’s thriller.
“If you rewatch the tape of the handshake line, you’re going to see me go just as fast by her as anybody else,” Weekly said, via Knox News. “I didn’t even know where she was in the handshake line … That’s an outright lie. I said, ‘Good game,’ like I said to every other player.”
Controversy between Tennessee and Texas Tech aside, both teams are still battling in Oklahoma City for a chance to hold the trophy at the end of the Women’s College World Series. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about both teams’ odds to capture the national championship:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
