GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Pal Egan struck out three times Thursday night in Florida's series opener against Southeastern Conference foe Auburn, a game the No. 15 Gators ultimately won in extra innings. When Egan stepped to the plate in a tie game Friday night the outfielder and graduate-student transfer by way of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi was hitting just .142 in league play, with only two hits in 14 at-bats. 

Moments later, Egan was rounding the bases, after smacking a two-run homer, and wearing a smile as if a dream had come true. 

It had. 

"Just watch her. Watch how much it means to her. The excitement," UF coach Tim Walton said after his team's 6-3 series-clinching victory Friday against the 19th-ranked Tigers. "We need that. We've been good for so long that sometimes we take good for granted." 

Egan won't be taking anything for granted any time soon. Not as long as she's wearing that orange and blue uniform. Ever since being glued to her television as a wide-eyed softball-loving teen in Bakersfield, Calif., Egan dreamed of being a Gator. Watching the 2014 and '15 teams win back-to-back NCAA championships hooked her. From that point on her goal was to one day put on a Florida uniform. 

"It was just really exciting to see what girls in college were doing," Egan reflected after her two-run homer in the bottom of third gave the Gators (28-9, 6-5) a lead they would not relinquish and, ultimately, their second series win in four SEC matchups to date. "I mean, that's pretty much what I looked up to my entire life. And I always wanted to play for Coach Walton." 
 

Mic drop. 🎤💥#GoGators pic.twitter.com/FHCSm5iI9h

— Gators Softball (@GatorsSB) April 8, 2023

She took a round-about way to do so. 

Egan was a decent prospect, not a great one, coming out of high school. Good enough to get her to Vernon (Texas) College, where she played two seasons at the junior college level during the 2019 and COVID-whacked 2020 seasons. She hit .561 as a freshman and was on pace to break all kinds of records as a sophomore when the pandemic shut everything down. 

Her 2021 and '22 seasons were spent at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, garnering third-team All-Southland Conference accolades as a junior and one-upping that with Southland Player of the Year honors as a senior, after setting a slew of program records, including in batting average (.426), runs scored (48), multi-hit games (21) and stolen bases (27). 

Through it all, Egan's focus on a future at Florida was always in play. 

"The moment I got to junior college I was like, "OK, how can I figure out how to make it to the D-1 level. And when I make it to a mid-major, OK, I'll have one more year left, so how can I make it to my dream school?' " Egan said. "So I just played like I had nothing to lose."

In time, Egan reached out to Walton and basically recruited him. Of course, once Walton's interest in the Texas prospect piqued, she didn't need a whole lot of convincing. 

What she did need upon her arrival at Florida was some time to figure things out. The Southland and Southeastern conferences bear little in resemblance, obviously, so there was going to be a transition phase.  "She's got some grit. She's got some flare to her and some fire to her," Walton said. "She is a fifth-year senior in a place where she's always wanted to be, so I think she had some stage fright early. She was really nervous and had a lot of stuff going on." 

And, frankly, wasn't ready to play. 

Undeterred, though, Egan kept grinding. 

"Pal brings it every day," said fifth-year senior third baseman Charla Echols, who plated three runs in Friday's win with a couple RBI singles. "She's always loud. Sometimes a little too loud, so you have to calm her down at times. That's what makes her so good. Pal brings a fire to us that we need it."

Egan burned quite the path around the bases after that home run against the Tigers. She may not have been ready a month ago, but the Gators are going to find out how ready she is now. In time, maybe her production will catch up with her gratitude. 

If that's even possible. 

"It's a really surreal feeling to be able to play with girls that are wearing the Gator jersey," she said. "It's just something I always looked up to and the fact I get to wear one is super exciting and gets me fired up every day."