Amid the meteoric growth of women's sports and exceedingly larger appetites from fans who are eager to enjoy all the action, ESPN has met the demand by stacking its lineup with the inaugural season of Athletes Unlimited Softball League.
As four teams made up of the world's best professional softball players take the diamond for a 24-game slate, the group of gals behind Sistersnacking teamed up with ESPN to create a little friendly food competition for its new fans.
Sara Shapiro, Carly Shapiro, Madison Vitale, and Julia Paperny -- the sisters behind Sistersnacking, popular online culinary content creators -- launched the Ultimate Snack-down with the Worldwide Leader in Sports to unveil the official snack of AUSL games.
"When Madison and I got to the stadium last week, the line was almost into the overflow parking lot of families and young girls waiting to attend the game. They were rocking the t-shirts of their favorite team and it just, it's really meaningful when we get to use our platform and work with such an amazing brand like ESPN and the AUSL to bring something so amazing to other women and young girls -- it feels really good," Sara Shapiro told "Good Morning America."
Each sister was tasked with creating a unique ice cream topping for the first-of-its-kind competition, with fans weighing in over the last few weeks to vote on their favorite via ESPNW's Instagram page.
On Thursday, Sistersnacking and ESPN announced exclusively with "Good Morning America" that the Bases Loaded Brownie Blast hit it out of the park, securing the win as the official AUSL snack.
Sara Shapiro, the oldest sister and CFO, created the winning sundae, which she said is made with "chocolate soft-serve with hot fudge drizzle, peanut butter swirl and a pretzel rod," plus "a big chunk of delicious brownie," all served with a chocolate straw.
"We all love all ice cream, so its hard to be mad about any one flavor coming out on top," said Carly Shapiro, who made the Strawberry Shortstop, a sundae inspired by strawberry shortcake. "We wanted to make sure they were all sundaes that people all across the country, because that's where the stadiums are, will love."
Vitale added, "Sara just came out on top with the chocolate. I feel like people gravitate towards that chocolate, fudgy brownie, and peanut butter. It was fun to have a tiny, friendly competition, but we were all really supportive of each flavor."
The Bases Loaded Brownie Blast will be served at the championship game this weekend in Tuscaloosa.
Vitale's sundae, the Key Lime Curveball, is made up of "vanilla soft-serve topped with a whole slice of key lime pie, and then I had graham cracker crumbles and some lime zest."
Paperny, the fourth and youngest sister, served up the Pinch Hitter Pudding, vanilla soft-serve topped with banana pudding, a little caramelized banana half and extra crushed vanilla wafers.
Check out all four recipes below to recreate at home this summer while watching an AUSL game.
Ingredients
3 scoops of your favorite chocolate ice cream
1 large slice of a gooey, chocolatey brownie
1 tablespoon peanut butter, melted
1 tablespoon hot fudge
1 pretzel rod
1 chocolate straw
Instructions
Top chocolate ice cream generously with the above toppings.
Ingredients
3 scoops of your favorite vanilla ice cream
1 large homemade or store-bought biscuit
3-4 strawberries, diced
1 tablespoon strawberry jam, melted
Instructions
Top biscuit with vanilla ice cream, diced strawberries, and melted strawberry jam.
Ingredients
3 scoops of your favorite vanilla ice cream
1 large slice of homemade or store-bought Key lime pie
Zest of a quarter of a lime
1 graham cracker, crushed
Instructions
Top vanilla ice cream generously with the above toppings.
Ingredients
3 scoops of your favorite vanilla ice cream
1/4 cup banana pudding loaded with vanilla wafers
Pinch of sugar
1/2 a banana, sliced lengthwise
4 crushed vanilla wafers
Instructions
Dust banana half with a pinch of sugar and place flat side down on a pan medium heat and let crisp until golden. Or use a handheld blowtorch to melt the sugar atop the flat side of the banana.
Top ice cream with banana pudding, caramelized banana, and crushed wafers.
"We've really been eager to get involved in the sports arena," Carly Shapiro said. "So it was really special for us to do something that's marrying food with sports. And especially a women-dominated sport as four sisters. We love anything that's women-owned and women-driven -- all of those pieces coming together was really special for us."
The sisters, three of whom played softball growing up, had a chance to meet AUSL players at their respective ballparks in Oklahoma and Utah and got to test their skills on the diamond in preparation for this partnership.
"We actually threw the first pitch out, which was really harder than I thought. I have such an appreciation for those athletes. They are so amazing," Sara Shapiro said.
But when they're not crafting sweet treats for stadiums, the sisters who grew up with an affinity for attending games each have their own must-order favorite ballpark item.
"I'm gonna probably have a sausage and peppers [sandwich] -- they have the Primos at Yankee Stadium -- and probably a bag of popcorn," Vitale said of her go-to savory snack.
"I'm a chicken tender girl. I've never been to a sporting event and not gotten the platter of chicken tenders with fries," Carly Shapiro said, adding the side of honey mustard "is a necessity."
"I'm going classic. I want a hot dog," Sara Shapiro said, adding she b-lines to grab a Fenway Frank and tops the dog with "yellow mustard, maybe a little bit of relish."
The Bandits, Blaze, Talons and Volts will compete in the 24-game slate, followed by a three-game championship series and a dynamic, points-based All-Star Cup.
ESPN2 and ESPNU will broadcast 18 regular-season games, while the AUSL championship will air on ESPN2.
There will be 21 additional All-Star Cup games available on ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN+.
The Walt Disney Co. is the parent company of ABC News and ESPN.
