Since he was 13, Josh Bell has followed a windy road to where he wants to be.
Bell will be entering his senior season at Kiski Area High School when the next school year begins, but he considers himself lucky to still call baseball his game of choice.
Five years ago, Bell suffered an avulsion fracture in his right elbow while pitching for his AAU team during the Beast of the East tournament.
Since then, Bell has been pitching with a screw in his arm that has become impossible to remove due to the bone growing around the screw.
But that has not slowed him down.
Bell has played on the Kiski Area varsity team since he was a sophomore, but he has really broken through playing for the Pittsburgh Legends of the Western Pennsylvania Elite Baseball League. Bell is in his first year with the Legends and has already proven to be one of the more reliable pitchers for manager Chris Sidick’s squad.
Sidick, a Canon-McMillan High School graduate and former professional baseball player, owns and operates C-Side Sports Academy, a baseball training facility located in Washington County.
“We had an open tryout for our 18-U team, and during that same time I had several universities attend to scout the players,” Sidick said. “He had a smaller frame, but solid mound presence.
”You could tell immediately he was confident with his stuff on the bump. He throws 84 to 86 mph, with a tight curveball and sick splitter, which is for sure his ‘out’ pitch. All the colleges raved about him during the post-tryout meeting.”
As for Bell, he was pleasantly surprised with how much he has been used during the summer league with Sidick.
“Chris has taught me a lot in my short time with the Legends and working with former major leaguer and Upper St. Clair graduate Kevin Slowey at C-Side one on one is something I will never forget and would love to be able to do again,” Bell said.
“The decision to try out for Chris' team was kind of a ‘Why not?’ decision. I never would have imagined where it would have gotten me. I thought maybe I would be an alternate at best. I never really left my roots when it came to baseball, so branching out was new and exciting.”
During his journey, Bell became good friends with his lifelong coach and mentor, Curt Poremski. Poremski is the one who introduced Bell to C-Side Sports and Sidick.
“My love for baseball has been supported by my family and lifelong coach, mentor, and friend Curt Poremski,” Bell said. “Words cannot describe how grateful I am to know him and have had him coach me my entire life. I'm incredibly appreciative of how his and my family’s support has led me to Chris Sidick and C-Side Sports, which has opened the door to many college opportunities.”
When he gets to the next level, Bell plans to study pre-medicine with a concentration in orthopedics. But with the exposure he will receive in the next two years, he will have a decision to make on which school allows him to study in his major as well as continue his baseball career at the next level.
“The lessons and skills I learned, the people I have met, and the places I have traveled all seem surreal,” Bell said. “It is the relationships that I have formed with people that have made me the baseball player and person I am today.”
First Published: July 31, 2015, 4:00 a.m.