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A Pima County jury found a 50-year-old softball coach not guilty of having sex with one of his teenage players.

The packed courtroom erupted in cheers and applause Wednesday afternoon when the verdict was read and a long line of teary well-wishers formed to give Troy Taylor a hug as he walked out of the courtroom.

Taylor declined to comment on the verdict, but defense attorney Dan Cooper said the jury reached the only conclusion it could. "He's a really, really good man who has been through hell the last year and a half," Cooper said.

Had Taylor been convicted of sexual conduct with a minor under 15, he could have received up to 22 years in prison.

Prosecutor Nicol Green said she respects the jury's verdict.

During closing arguments Wednesday morning, Cooper told jurors that Taylor's 17-year-old accuser is a "liar" whose testimony on the stand differed from her police interview on more than a dozen points.

Green told jurors that Taylor and the girl had sex on one occasion shortly after her 13th birthday.

Taylor, an Amateur Softball Association coach, was arrested shortly after the girl confided in her boyfriend two years later and her life hasn't been the same since, Green said.

Green told jurors the girl loves Taylor and has absolutely no motive to lie. Since the allegations became public the girl has had to change schools and softball teams.

If the girl was lying, Green asked why, then, didn't she accuse Taylor of an ongoing sexual relationship?

Green told jurors that several taped phone conversations between Taylor and the girl prove the two had an inappropriate relationship.

During one of those conversations, Taylor told the girl to tell authorities the truth — "that nothing happened" 24 times, Green said.

If nothing had happened, why did Taylor have to elaborate on what the truth was? Green asked.

"He was coaching her," Green said.

Cooper said Taylor kept saying "nothing happened" because nothing happened.

The girl told her boyfriend she was "raped" because she was worried he was about to dump her, and once the lie got rolling, it couldn't be stopped, Cooper said.

Not only has the girl told various people the event happened in 2001, 2002, and 2003, but she also said it happened after she used Taylor's home batting cage — a cage that wasn't installed until 2004, Cooper said.

"If she'd lie about something like that, you've got to throw it all out," Cooper said.

If the girl had sex with Taylor at the age of 12, 13, 14 or 15, there are certain things you'd think she'd remember, Cooper said.

The girl also told the detective that the event occurred after Taylor drank a cup of coffee when the evidence is Taylor doesn't drink coffee, Cooper said.

"This case is an outrage," Cooper told jurors. "You can't convict somebody on that kind of evidence, that kind of witness."