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Branford’s Massey Stays On the Great Crusade to Play at Holy Cross

As the fields at Branford High School lay in wait for the fall season to begin, the familiar crack of a baseball bat echoes over the dormant grounds. The sound comes from the fields’ sole inhabitant, BJ Massey, who on most afternoons can be found fine-tuning his swing. There’s nobody throwing batting practice, no one shagging the balls he sprays to the outfield—just BJ, a tee, and his love for baseball.

BJ, a 2014 Branford graduate and a soon-to-be sophomore biology major at the College of Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, doesn’t have another high school season to prep for. There’s no American Legion ball left to play and no guarantee he’ll play organized baseball again. Yet almost every day after working maintenance at the Branford Rec Center, BJ comes to the complex and gets in some swings, hoping that the extra work will give him a chance to keep playing the game he’s loved since Little League.

A catcher and first baseman, BJ recently wrapped up his final summer with Branford’s Senior Legion team by helping Post 83 capture their sixth-straight Zone 2 title. After putting together one of his best seasons at the plate with a .356 average, BJ feels confident he can walk on to the Holy Cross squad after not making the team a year ago.

“I’m going to try out again,” BJ says. “I was a bullpen catcher during last fall’s workouts. It was a great experience to see how they operate and how they work with pitchers.”

The coaches at Holy Cross told BJ he has the potential to develop into a Division I player. He’s taken that to heart and devoted himself to getting better—even if it means working out alone in the brutal summer heat.

“They weren’t specific in what I needed to work on, so I took it as work on everything,” says BJ, who had 31 hits with 11 RBI this year. “I’m going to the weight room before class and sometimes getting a second workout in after class. I’ve tried to take a new approach and I think it has worked.”

BJ’s versatility might be the key to catching on with the Crusaders. He has the ability to switch hit, play behind the plate, or on the bag at first like he did as a senior captain for the Hornets.

“I’ll play any position, honestly, anything I can do to play the game,” he says.

In BJ’s senior year at Branford, the team went 7-13 and just missed the State Tournament. However, BJ’s efforts as a leader didn’t go unnoticed as he was recognized with the Coaches’ Award and the No ‘I’ in Team Award from the Southern Connecticut Diamond Club.

“Those were great honors and, after barely missing the postseason by the skin of our teeth, it was a nice boost knowing I had done my best,” he says. “I helped me feel OK to move on and that there was more baseball past high school where I would find success.”

BJ’s enjoyed his greatest success on the field while playing for Rich Balzano and the Branford Senior Legion team. In 2013, BJ was a part of the Post 83 squad that won the state and Northeast Regional titles en route to the American Legion World Series in North Carolina. It was the first time in his life that BJ played on a winning team.

“It was a great experience. I learned how to win and it also opened my eyes to how good players are my age around the country,” BJ says.

Getting a taste for winning baseball on the national stage intensified BJ’s passion for the game—a tangible trait, according to Balzano.

“He is an inspiration. BJ squeezes every ounce out of talent out of himself to achieve the maximum level of success,” says Balzano. “That is an inspiration because he works so hard, focuses so much on being the best player he can be. He makes it fun for us as coaches...He is a great role model for all the players on the team and his spirit and determination embody what American Legion baseball is all about.”

As autumn athletics return to life on the fields of Branford High School, it won’t be as easy to spot the silhouette of BJ working on his swing. However, he will continue to refine his craft in hope that his love of the sport opens another door.

“I’m feeling more confident going to school and I know what is expected of me,” he says. “Now, I have to show up and prove that I can do what I know I can do.”