Brittany Thompson Mills currently lives in Tremonton but was recently inducted into the Boston College Athletic Hall of Fame on September 7th for her distinguished career as a college softball player.
As a senior at Boston College, she led the team with a .387 batting average, 53 hits, 11 doubles, 12 HRs and 31 RBI’s. She had a .745 slugging percentage. As a pitcher she led the team with 34 pitching appearances and 77 strike outs.
When Mills left Boston College she had the second-highest batting average (.321), fifth-most hits (154), third-most RBIs (111), and most home runs (37) in Eagles history.
Mills played her high school softball at Viewmont. She earned all-state and MVP honors all four years she played for the Vikings. In 2003, as a senior, she was the 5-A Player of the Year and Gatorade Player of the Year.
She said, as a pitcher, her rise ball was her favorite pitch and the change up next. She also played in the outfield.
At 17, Mills started playing in competitive leagues in the summer for the New Jersey Beach Girls in the New York-New Jersey area.
“We flew all over the country playing teams in tournaments,” she said. “College coaches would come to the tournaments to scout for talent.”
For the summer leagues, Mills would leave home for two weeks at a time and return home for four days.
She was hoping her skills would help her achieve her higher education goals.
“It helps if you could get a good scholarship,” she said. “You don’t have to pay for school.”
Based on her play on the field, she received scholarship offers from Boston College, a private Jesuit Catholic University in Massachusetts, and Brigham Young University. They both wanted someone who could pitch and hit.
She eventually decided on Boston College because the scholarship was better and she said she just felt like it was where she should go to school.
Mills, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said it was a good experience for her; there were only five other LDS students at the college at the time.
“My freshman year, Paul Peterson, a quarterback of the football team, was there. He was also LDS and played at Snow College. We had Institute at our church; a couple would come and teach once a week.”
To say that it was a good experience and a lot of fun is an understatement. She blossomed as a softball player, leading her team in numerous categories and remains near the top on several career lists.
After graduating from Boston College she went to Germany to play for a summer. When she returned from playing overseas, Mills served a mission for her church in Washington, DC.
She later married the brother of one of her Viewmont High School teammates, Max Mills. The homemaker and mother of four small children, which includes triplets, is using her English degree and writing books. Her first romance novel should be out within the next few weeks.