Even in a town with as rich of a history as Williamsport, baseball will always be its mainstay.

Thanks in large part to the Little League Baseball World Series that takes place every year in South Williamsport, with the addition of the annual MLB Little League Classic that takes place at Historic Bowman Field among two MLB teams, it’s impossible to separate America’s pastime from the city.

But also calling Historic Bowman Field home is a ball club that, while lesser known to tourists and outsiders, is a team that is as much a staple of this town as the game they play.

The 12th tenant across two different sports at Historic Bowman Field, no team has stuck around longer than the Williamsport Crosscutters. Calling Williamsport home since 1999, after the relocation of the Geneva Cubs to Williamsport five years prior, the Crosscutter name has become symbolic of the town they play in.

“Baseball holds an incredibly important position in not only the history of this town, but the present and future,” said Gabe Sinicropi, vice-president of marketing and in-game emcee for the Williamsport Crosscutters. “Our franchise knew that when we arrived here in the fall of 93′, and we’ve attempted to do our best to continue holding that mantle and preserving the history of Historic Bowman Field and professional baseball as a whole.”

But to become as much of a cornerstone as the Cutters have become since the turn of the century takes more than just hosting 40 home games a year in the summer; a fact that the Crosscutters know and are sure to take advantage of. Whether it’s their annual 5k run or a newly minted toy drive, it’s become clear that the Crosscutter organization has become a mainstay in the community with its charity work along with its play on the diamond.

“It’s been important from day one,” Sinicropi said. “We knew that we always wanted to do our part. We are not unlike any other professional baseball team… we hold ourselves to a certain standard. We are not special in that way.

“But it’s important to note that we are a small business overall; we have just six full time staff members,” he added. “We like to think that our place in the community is mighty and we always want to do our part in any way that we possibly can.”

Most recently, the ballclub ran a partnership with the Lycoming County Toys for Tots, an organization that gives out new toys to local kids in the Lycoming County area. The partnership marks the second time that the Cutters worked with Toys for Tots, with the Cutters auctioning off their “Christmas in July” uniforms for the organization in addition to a toy drive during the season. In total, over $4,000 were raised in addition to dozens of toys for the organization.

“The Crosscutters are proud to partner with Toys for Tots this holiday season to help bring smiles to children and families in Lycoming County,” said Sinicropi in a press release. “Our fans have always shown incredible generosity, and we’re excited to join together to make the holidays a little brighter for those in need.”

Overall, the winter toy drive surpassed expectations with over 250 toys donated in the four-week event.

“That was the first toy drive, really, that we had done in the winter season,” Sinicropi said. “I told them to bring us two, not expecting to set up the second one and they said, ‘We’ll give you three!’ No way did I think we would fill it up. Well, we overfilled all three and could have used at least one more box, probably two. We were inundated with toys and we are so thankful to our fans.”

Auctioning game-worn jerseys for charity has become a tradition with the Crosscutters, with the ballclub partnering with the Hope Foundation in the same month. Rhashan West-Bay, a recipient of Hope’s services in addition to being the Crosscutters’ Director of Smiles, had his likeness etched on a special jersey in honor of the director himself.

Through auctioning off these game-worn jersey’s, the Cutters fundraised $4,460 for the foundation. The staggering number pales in comparison to the Cutters’ annual 5K, which raised over $10,000 this year alone to the foundation.

“The reason why those dollars came in is directly related to Rhashan,” Sinicropi said. “We were the vessel for it to happen but it wouldn’t happen without Rhashan being Rhashan.”

Sinicropi, who also is a member of the Hope Foundation board, has kept the organization close to his heart in regards to giving back.

“We’ve been connected to Hope in one way, shape, or form since we came to town. Rhashan lives in a Hope home, and we are so thankful to the services they provide to Rashawn, he lives like a king! So Hope is near and dear to our hearts.”

A newer fundraising campaign for the Crosscutters centered around their manager Kenny Thomas. Thomas, whose wife Judy passed away to cancer in 2023, worked with the Cutters to produce “Da-Gum It” Kenny Thomas t-shirts. The shirts, whose phrase replicates the southern twang of the coach, were sold with 10% of proceeds going to the local K’s for Cancer Foundation. As of mid-December, $1,020 were raised with t-shirts still available for purchase online.

In a small town, a minor league ballclub can be seen as the bedrock of the community. With their efforts in the area, it’s no surprise why the Crosscutters – as a minor-league affiliate and stand-alone team in the MLB Draft League – have been the longest tenant at Bowman, as the stadium enters its 100th year of existence in 2026.

“As a franchise and a business, we wanna be thought of as good neighbors,” said Sinicropi. “That’s what we wanna be remembered for, and we can’t do any of it without our fans. Most of the donations that we do emanate from our fans. We write the check at the end of the day, we provide the mechanism for those donations to be collected and disseminated, but the fans give the money. Our hats off to the fans and businesses that we have each year because they are the ones that provide those funds.”