Editing 1998 NPPL Pittsburgh Open

The '''1998 NPPL Pittsburgh Open''' was a [[National Professional Paintball League]] paintball tournament held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1998. It featured professional and amateur ten-man competition, together with amateur and novice five-man divisions.[1]

[[Chicago Aftershock|Aftershock]] won the professional ten-man competition. [[Lockout]] won Amateur A, Fusion won Amateur B, Highlanders won the amateur five-man competition and Eclipse I won the novice five-man competition.[1][2][3]

== Playing conditions ==

The tournament was affected by wet weather and standing water. WARPIG's contemporary report described conditions severe enough for players to consider whether their loaders would become submerged when occupying particular bunkers.[1]

In its coverage of the 2000 Pittsburgh tournament, WARPIG recalled that downpours at the 1998 event had submerged parts of the fields, prompting the nickname "SCUBA-ball".[5]

== Ten-man competition ==

The ten-man competition comprised preliminary rounds, semi-finals and separate professional, Amateur A and Amateur B finals.[2]

Aftershock recovered from a seven-point opening semi-final game to qualify for the professional final with 197 points. The team then scored 95, 93 and 93 points in the final round, winning with a total of 281. Image finished second, ahead of Bob Long's Ironmen and Avalanche.[2]

=== Professional final ===

{| class="wikitable"
! Position !! Team !! Game 1 !! Game 2 !! Game 3 !! Total
|-
| 1 || [[Chicago Aftershock|Aftershock]] || 95 || 93 || 93 || 281
|-
| 2 || [[Team Image|Image]] || 12 || 94 || 14 || 120
|-
| 3 || [[Bob Long's Ironmen]] || 7 || 9 || 88 || 104
|-
| 4 || [[Avalanche]] || 5 || 82 || 14 || 101
|}

Scores and placings are from WARPIG's contemporary results.[2]

=== Amateur A final ===

{| class="wikitable"
! Position !! Team !! Game 1 !! Game 2 !! Game 3 !! Total
|-
| 1 || [[Lockout]] || 98 || 97 || 98 || 293
|-
| 2 || Xtreme || 95 || 95 || 4 || 194
|-
| 3 || Thunderstorm || −26 || 6 || 94 || 74
|-
| 4 || Personal Vendetta || 4 || 10 || 12 || 26
|}

WARPIG records the complete final. ClassicScores independently lists Xtreme second, Thunderstorm third and Personal Vendetta fourth.[2][4]

=== Amateur B final ===

{| class="wikitable"
! Position !! Team !! Game 1 !! Game 2 !! Game 3 !! Total
|-
| 1 || Fusion || 95 || 90 || 98 || 283
|-
| 2 || Zero Tolerance || 93 || 84 || 4 || 181
|-
| 3 || Turbulence || 10 || 14 || 94 || 118
|-
| 4 || Green Dragons || 14 || 5 || 12 || 31
|}

WARPIG records the scores, while ClassicScores corroborates all four placings.[2][4]

== Five-man competition ==

Five-man teams competed in preliminary and semi-final rounds before separate amateur and novice finals. WARPIG identified the amateur final as Division 1 and the novice final as Division 2.[1][3]

Highlanders won the amateur final with 122 points. The Boyz finished second with 113, one point ahead of Illusion. Eclipse I won the novice final with 173 points.[3]

=== Amateur final ===

{| class="wikitable"
! Position !! Team !! Game 1 !! Game 2 !! Game 3 !! Total
|-
| 1 || Highlanders || 57 || 59 || 6 || 122
|-
| 2 || The Boyz || 59 || 0 || 54 || 113
|-
| 3 || Illusion || 3 || 60 || 49 || 112
|-
| 4 || Fair Warning || 2 || 2 || 12 || 16
|}

WARPIG initially placed The Boyz below Illusion because of a calculation error. Its corrected score sheet confirms The Boyz in second place.[3]

=== Novice final ===

{| class="wikitable"
! Position !! Team !! Game 1 !! Game 2 !! Game 3 !! Total
|-
| 1 || Eclipse I || 55 || 59 || 59 || 173
|-
| 2 || Team Raptors || 58 || 2 || 60 || 120
|-
| 3 || Absolute Carnage || 7 || 8 || 0 || 15
|-
| 4 || Voo Doo || 4 || 5 || 2 || 11
|}

Scores and placings are from WARPIG's contemporary results.[3]

== See also ==

* [[National Professional Paintball League]]
* [[1998 NPPL Las Vegas Open]]
* [[1998 NPPL Chicago Open]]

== References ==

# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/pitts98/index.shtml NPPL Pittsburgh 1998]. ''WARPIG'', 1998. Contemporary tournament overview.
# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/pitts98/pitt10man98.shtml 10 Player Scores — NPPL Pittsburgh 1998]. ''WARPIG'', 1998. Preliminary, semi-final and final results.
# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/pitts98/pitt5man98.shtml 5 Player Scores — NPPL Pittsburgh 1998]. ''WARPIG'', 1998. Includes the correction to the amateur final placings.
# [https://www.classicscores.com/ ClassicScores]. “1998 NPPL — Pittsburgh, PA”. Amateur A and Amateur B ten-man placings.
# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/nppl_pitt_00/index.shtml Smart Parts NPPL Pittsburgh 2000]. ''WARPIG'', May 2000. Retrospective description of flooding at the 1998 tournament.

[[Category:National Professional Paintball League events]]
[[Category:Paintball tournaments in the United States]]
[[Category:Paintball tournament results]]
[[Category:Paintball in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:1990s in American paintball]]
[[Category:1998 in paintball]]