On Saturday, Tennessee softball and Texas Tech played in an instant classic that ended with an Emma Clarke walk-off home run to push the Lady Vols to the 2026 Women’s College World Series Semifinals. However, it has been postgame claims and social media antics that have drawn the most attention.
Red Raiders third baseman and former Tennessee star Taylor Pannell accused her former UT head coach, Karen Weekly, of telling her that she made a mistake in the handshake line after the game. Weekly fired back by saying to Cora Hall of Knox News that it was an ‘outright lie’.
Now, Pannell’s father, Brandon Pannell, who drew criticism for tweets pointed at Tennessee fans after Taylor Pannell’s announcement to transfer by calling them children of incest, sharing a photo of a seemingly AI-generated Tennessee fan with special needs and making homophobic remarks, is weighing in.
More From RTI: WATCH: Tennessee Softball’s Emma Clarke Lifts Extra-Inning, Walk-Off Home Run in WCWS
After sharing posts, which have now been deleted, on his X account in the aftermath of the game featuring a claim that Texas Tech lost on the field but is winning in life with a gif of Daffy Duck playing in money, and that his daughter’s mistake was playing for Weekly, he responded to a writer, Maren Angus-Coombs of Softball on SI, who shared the posts.
“your dad is rolling around in his grave reading the click bait trash you continue to write,” Brandon Pannell shared in a screenshot posted under Angus-Coombs’ post*. “You have been fired from Fastpitch News, Softball America and D1 Softball would not hire you. Wonder why??? Don’t get me wrong I do love the attention but I prefer the attention coming from a loser hiding behind a fake account. There’s no reason a person in your position that’s covering softball should be covering a players parent or the negativity of the game. Last night’s game could be the game of the series so why don’t you FOCUS ON GROWING THE GAME… it’s a shame YOU couldn’t focus on the pitchers duel or the fact Emma Clarke hit a walk off and this takes attention away from a great kids moment.
“If you don’t want to be a fake journalist, why don’t you do your job and get the video of the hand shake line.”
*This post from Brandon Pannell has since been deleted
@Maren_Angus pic.twitter.com/wNMRAq3RO1
— Brandon Pannell (@B_Pannell_31) May 31, 2026
More From RTI: What Karen Weekly, Tennessee Softball Said After Walking Off Texas Tech in WCWS
Taylor Pannell finished the game against Tennessee 1-for-4, but was the key run to cross to force extra innings. In the seventh, she led off the frame with a single before avoiding a tag at home to tie the game on a sac-fly.
Taylor Pannell spent three seasons with Tennessee, proving to be one of the team’s finest hitters during her final redshirt-sophomore season. In 2025, she posted a .398 batting average with 16 home runs on the WCWS squad.
Now, Texas Tech will play UCLA with both teams’ seasons on the line. The winner advances to play Alabama in the semifinals for a spot in the national championship series. On the other side of the bracket, Tennessee will play the winner between Nebraska and Texas in the semifinals.
This does mean a potential rematch between the Lady Vols and Red Raiders could be in store in the finals series.
One Response
Parents really need to shut their damn mouths without knowing facts. Fact Mr. Panel. Your daughter is a liar. Fact. You seem to be a really big troll who is butt hurt that the Red Raiders lost. Probable or fact. Tech tampered with your daughter before the season was officially over last year. Evidence is pointing to it. Karen Weekly is a great coach above reproach and could have raised 10 shades of hell for tampering but didn’t. Tennessee is better off without her anyway. I hope UCLA beats the brakes off of them. Shallow “man.”