Caleb Feist, Director of Operations for the Stanford Cardinal’s softball program has found a competitive advantage using video analysis software on the diamond.

You can trace any success story on softball fields across the collegiate ranks back to a teams preparation, but it’s not often linked to a coaches prep in the film room. For Caleb Feist, Director of Operations for Stanford Softball, it can. 

Fresh off a berth in the Women’s College World Series in ‘23, integration of video technology has been integral to Feist's prep work, as they face some of the nation's preeminent programs on a weekly basis. 

It started with Feist's introduction to Hudl Sportscode, a video analysis product he knew little about. He touts Hudl’s robust Academy resources– accessible to all analysts across the globe, and its world class customer success team as a key part in his knowledge growth. “There's always a good tutorial on [a feature in Sportscode],” Feist said. “And if there was anything that I couldn't figure out, I would ask my account reps Greg or Chris, and they would show me what I needed to do. It's a reflection on the tools that you guys have to teach people, and the staff that you have to further their development.”

Hudl Sportscode is the most flexible video analysis tool on the market. It’s so versatile that any sport can integrate its own unique set of data into the software seamlessly, so that staff can utilize the data most relevant to their sport and program. “I try to keep it [high level enough] to where you know what happened on each pitch,” Feist explained. “So if our staff or players were like, ‘Oh man, my second at bat, the third pitch, I want to see where that one was.’ You can click their name and then it's all there.” 

“It's super helpful feedback for them because the only place they've seen that stuff is in their head. And a lot of times you think it’s a bad pitch, the girl hits it over the fence and you go, ‘that was a terrible pitch.’ Then you see it, maybe the girls just made a really good swing. There is some positive reinforcement in that, showing them all of what happened.” Caleb Fiest, Director of Operations

The ability to seamlessly integrate multiple angles into Hudl Sportscode packages has been integral to their workflow throughout the season. One is fixed behind home plate, giving him and the staff a birds eye view of infield positioning, and one in center field fixed on the pitcher. In a sport that changes pitch by pitch, it's vital to the team that they make adjustments quickly. “If our coaches want to see our defensive rotation. It's there. Click the camera button. Where's the center field camera? It's all in the same package,” said Feist. “It's super helpful feedback for them because the only place they've seen that stuff is in their head. And a lot of times you think it’s a bad pitch, the girl hits it over the fence and you go, ‘that was a terrible pitch.’ Then you see it, maybe the girls just made a really good swing. There is some positive reinforcement in that, showing them all of what happened.”

 “A lot of times in softball, it's a quick turnaround,” Feist added. “We will play right away the next day, or we're playing a three game series or playing five games in four days at a tournament… as soon as the game's over, it's up on Sportscode so that they can see it.”

The multi-angle analysis Feist provides has become so ingrained in their weekly self-scout, that the staff and players can make adjustments within their weekly preparation. “I’m putting together playlists that can be used if our pitching coach goes, ‘Hey at our tournament last weekend, can you get all of our pitcher strikeouts? And I only want swinging strikes.’ I can go into the finder and find the tags that have the swinging strikes from these games.” Feist added. 

In a sport where you’re stacking games against teams from across the country week over week, Feist knows that the analysis can seem overwhelming at times. But by developing a sound workflow, he’s been able to optimize their time spent with video analysis, so that his team can focus on the game. 

Interested in learning more about Hudl Sportscode? Dive deeper here.