That included Northern Colorado’s Anna Wilming throwing a five-inning perfect game against the Wildcats to help the Bears to a 2-1 series victory.

Weber State lost five shutouts early in the season but went two months and 34 games between shutout losses; Northern Colorado shut WSU out twice in the series.

Weber State recognized its five seniors after Saturday’s game: pitchers Brooke Merrill and Jayci Finch, catcher Eva Richardson, outfielder Gianna Memoli and outfielder Olivia Birkinshaw.

The series kept Weber State (22-29, 8-7 Big Sky) from a chance to climb to second place in the Big Sky standings and the first-round tournament bye that comes with it. So the Wildcats enter the conference tournament as the No. 3 seed instead.

First, Weber State will host Utah Tech (15-33) for a doubleheader on Saturday, May 3. The Wildcats currently have series victories over Utah, Utah State and Utah Valley this season; Utah Tech leads WSU 1-0 in that series.

Then comes the Big Sky Conference tournament, held in Greeley, Colorado, after Northern Colorado won last year’s regular-season title.

Idaho State (34-15, 13-2) ran away with this year’s title and will host next year’s tournament. ISU slugger Ava Brown hit three home runs in a series against Portland State this weekend, giving her a Big Sky record and nation-leading 24 home runs this season.

Sacramento State (25-21, 10-5) grabbed second place and a bye.

No. 3 Weber State opens tournament play at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 6, facing No. 6 Montana (8-40, 1-14). WSU swept Montana 3-0 earlier this season. The winner advances to take on No. 2 Sacramento State at 6:30 p.m.

May 7 brings the first set of elimination games and the winner’s bracket semifinal. May 8 plays out three more elimination games to set up the championship final on May 9.

WEBER STATE 7, NOCO 2

The Wildcats opened the series with a unique linescore: WSU had only three hits and all three drove in the team’s seven runs. Weber drew eight walks against NoCo starter Isabelle Dinapoli to help matters.

Sadie Kirk singled in Riley Whalen in the first inning but the Bears got to WSU starter Cali McCraw in the fifth with a pair of RBI singles for a 2-1 lead.

WSU got it all in the sixth when Tori Rey doubled in Kirk and Abby Grundy, then Whalen smashed a grand slam to center field for the final 7-2 score.

Jayci Finch got the win, facing the minimum in two innings. She struck out one, allowed a two-out single in the seventh and saw that runner erased by Eva Richardson on a steal attempt to end the game.

NOCO 9, WEBER STATE 0

Anna Wilming put down all 15 WSU batters she saw to cap Friday’s doubleheader, a run-rule-shortened perfect game to headline the series.

Wilming induced 10 flyouts, two groundouts and struck out three.

Weber State’s pitchers struggled in this one. The Bears scored all nine of their runs in the second and third innings. Starter RJ Parra and reliever Brooke Merrill each lasted just 1 1/3 innings; Parra allowed four earned runs on three hits and Merrill gave up five earned runs on two hits.

Joslyn Veltien closed the game facing the minimum and striking out four in two innings for WSU.

NOCO 3, WEBER STATE 0

Grace Algrim pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out three, walking zero and allowing three hits to help the Bears to another shutout of WSU on Saturday.

Algrim was perfect through 3 1/3 before Taegan Smith hit a one-out single in the fourth. Sadie Kirk followed with a double but Abby Grundy and Olivia Birkinshaw both flew out to strand the runners in scoring position.

WSU left a runner on second with one out in the fifth, stranded Smith on third after her double in the sixth, and couldn’t get anything out of an Eva Richardson leadoff walk in the seventh.

Brooke Merrill rebounded for a good outing in the circle for WSU. She surrendered a two-out, solo homer to Kati Walling in the first inning as the only earned run she allowed in five frames, spreading six hits in her start.

Jayci Finch pitched two more scoreless innings. For the week, Finch allowed two hits, struck out two and walked one in four innings.